A number of these launch and recovery locations were in the areas where the “crashed saucer” and “space aliens” were allegedly observed.
Following the series of dummy tests, a human subject, test pilot Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., now a retired Colonel, made three parachute jumps from high altitude balloons. Since free-fall tests from these unprecedented altitudes were extremely hazardous, they could not be accomplished by a human until a rigorous testing program using anthropomorphic dummies was completed.
Fig. 25. “Lord, take care of me now,” were Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr.’s words as he exited the Excelsior III balloon gondola at 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960, over White Sands Proving Ground, N.M. Kittinger’s courageous scientific achievement remains, to this day, the highest parachute jump ever accomplished. (U.S. Air Force photo)
A Cover-Up?
Countering claims of a cover-up, Air Force projects that used anthropomorphic dummies and human subjects were unclassified and widely publicized in numerous newspaper and magazine stories, books, and television reports. These included a book written by test pilot Kittinger, The Long, Lonely Leap, another book, Man High, by Man High Project Scientist, Lt. Col. David G. Simons (MC), a feature article in National Geographic, and cover stories in Life, Collier’s, Popular Mechanics, and Time.[47] A characterization of Kittinger’s record parachute jump even appeared in the adolescent magazine, MAD.[48] The intense public interest in High Dive, Excelsior and other aero medical projects conducted at Holloman AFB also resulted in a 1956 Twentieth Century Fox full-length motion picture, On the Threshold of Space (see [page 38]).
Fig. 26. This photo of Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr. taken by a remotely operated camera on the Excelsior III gondola, was featured in the December 1960 National Geographic.
