Documents / Report
The Roswell Report: Case Closed was published by Headquarters United States Air Force and written by Capt. James McAndrew. It follows up the July 1994 report, which traced the 1947 debris to Project MOGUL balloon trains. The report says the reported alien bodies were probably anthropomorphic test dummies dropped from high altitude balloons. It also says the accounts of bodies at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital probably merged two separate events: a 1956 KC-97 crash and a 1959 manned balloon mishap.
“Nevers”28 pages
Fig. 50. (LefrJ. A Holloman Balloon Branch launch crew prepares a nosecone of the D,SC”“FRER satellite for a high altitude balloon flight at Holloman AFB. N.M. in April 1960. (U.S. Air Fore />homJ Fig. 51, (Right). A U.S. Navy helicuptsr aboard the US5 Haiti VOO~J is shown here with the capsule from the DKWFRER Xlll satditr. It was recovered from the Pacifk Ocean 33” ,,,iles northwrsL of Hawaii on August I I, 1960. (U.S. Air Force photo) High Altitude Balloons and America’s First Satellite An illustration of the important contributions of the Holloman AFB Balloon Branch, and the necessity for a rapid recovery of a high altitude balloon payload, were evaluations of components of the first U.S. satellite- based reconnaissance system, code named Cocoon. The Soviet Union had already beaten the U.S. intO space with the launch and orbit of SPUTSIK1 on October 4, 1957. The next achievement in the quest for space superiority were the physical recovery of a payload that had heen in orbit.“i The DIS~OYERERsatellite. the sensor used in the COKONA program, was to he propelled into orbit and then eject a capsule containing an American flag to rnahle the U.S. to claim this honor.“h The DISCOVERERprogram had been plagued by failure with IO unsuccessful missions in 19.59 and 1960. With the eyes of the nation watching, and the Soviets testing a similar system, more failures could not he tolcratrd. To test the faulty components of the DIS~OVEKER,U.S. Air Force high altitude balloons at Holloman AFB were determined to he the most expedient method of conducting the evaluations. In April 1960, DISCOVEREKXI, on the launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., was put into a hold pending results of the balloon tests.” The first test at Holloman AFB on April 5th was unsatisfactory due to a parachute failure.‘* On April 8th, with pressure mounting, the Balloon Branch launched another balloon with the DIKOVEKERcapsule. This test, in which the capsule was dropped over White Sands Missile Range and recovered immediately, was a total success.xv The results were relayed by telephone from the Balloon Control Center at Holloman AFB to the launch pad at Vandenberg AFB where the countdown resumed.“’ Despite the successful balloon drop, DISC~VCRERXI and DISC~V~REKXII were failures.” Therefore, balloon testing continued throughout the summer of 1960.
Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 246 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.