The Roswell Report: Case Closed

Fig.14. Project officer and pilot, Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., standing beside the EXCELSIOR gondola at Holloman AFB, N.M. On his third and final high altitude parachute jump, from 102,800 feet, he established world records for highest parachute jump and length of free-fall which still stand today. (U.S. Air Force photo)

widely publicized manned high altitude balloon programs. The objective of Project MAN HIGH was to measure the physiological and psychological capabilities of a human in a space equivalent environment. Many developments of this successful project were later incorporated into the first phase of the U.S. Air Force Man in Space Program nicknamed MAN IN SPACE SOONEST (MISS). Technology developed for MISS was transferred to NASA in 1959 and became part of Project MERCURY, the initial series of U.S. space missions. $ ^{167} $

Project EXCELSIOR. In 1959 and 1960 the U.S. Air Force Aero Medical Laboratory collaborated with the Holloman Balloon Branch for Project EXCELSIOR, the second Air Force manned high altitude balloon program. EXCELSIOR was the dramatic climax of the high altitude free-fall studies that began as Project HIGH DIVE in 1953 using anthropomorphic dummies. As the test director for Project EXCELSIOR, Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. made three parachute jumps from balloons, EXCELSIOR I, II, and III, from 76,000, 75,000, and a still standing record altitude of 102,800 feet. EXCELSIOR's scientific objective was to develop a parachute system and techniques required to return a pilot or astronaut to earth following an emergency high altitude escape.

Project STARGAZER. Project STARGAZER was the third Air Force manned high altitude balloon program. Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., the veteran high altitude balloon pilot of MAN HIGH and EXCELSIOR, was both the pilot and project engineer. On December 13, 1962, Kittinger and U.S. Navy civilian astronomer William C. White rose to 86,000 feet to make astronomical observations with a gyro-stabilized telescope. A joint U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Smithsonian Institution, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology program, STARGAZER made only one of a scheduled four flights due to budget shortfalls and equipment difficulties.