Research has shown that many high altitude balloons launched from Holloman AFB, N.M., were recovered in locations, and under circumstances, that strongly resemble those described by UFO proponents as the recovery of a “flying saucer” and “alien” crew. When these descriptions were carefully examined, it was clear that they bore more than just a resemblance to Air Force activities. It appears that some were actually distorted references to Air Force personnel and equipment engaged in scientific study through the use of high altitude balloons. Since 1947, U.S. Air Force research organizations at Holloman AFB, N.M., have launched and recovered approximately 2,500 high altitude balloons. The Air Force organization that conducted most of these activities, the Holloman Balloon Branch, launched a wide range of sophisticated, and from most perspectives, odd looking equipment into the stratosphere above New Mexico. In fact, the =_very first_= high altitude data gathering balloon flight launched from Alamogordo Army Airfield (now Holloman AFB), N.M., on June 4, 1947, was found by the rancher and was the first of many unrelated events now collectively known as the “Roswell Incident.” [Illustration: Fig. 44. Inflation of a U.S. Air Force 626 ft. long, 34.6 million cu. ft. research balloon on August 13, 1972. This balloon was launched from Roswell Industrial Air Center (formerly Roswell AAF), Roswell, N.M., to test components of the NASA VIKING space probe. (_photo by Ole Jorgeson_) ] On the Threshold of Space In 1956, Twentieth Century Fox released _On the Threshold of Space_, a full-length motion picture based on Air Force aero medical projects conducted at Holloman AFB, N.M. Starring Guy Madison, John Hodiak, and Dean Jagger, this drama chronicled the high altitude balloon experiments of projects HIGH DIVE/EXCELSIOR and the high-speed track studies conducted by Col. John P. Stapp. Filmed on location at Holloman AFB, Air Force personnel, high altitude balloons, aircraft, vehicles, and other equipment, including the actual anthropomorphic dummies responsible for sightings of aliens, were used in the making of this film. In an ironic twist, in 1990 the television program _Unsolved Mysteries_, featured a segment on the Roswell Incident. The program, hosted by actor Robert Stack, depicted a dramatized version of the claims of “aliens,” space ships and mysterious government recovery crews. Interestingly, a review of newspapers from 1956 announcing the Hollywood premiere of _On the Threshold of Space_, listed Stack among the persons scheduled to attend this star-studded event.[70] [Illustration: Fig. 45. Lobby card of the 1956 Twentieth Century Fox release, _On the Threshold of Space_ starring Guy Madison (_seated_) and Martin Milner (_right_).]