The Roswell Report: Case Closed

High Altitude Research Balloons. The only vehicles not yet
evaluated as a possible source of the accounts were high altitude research
balloons. Previous reviews of early research balloon flight records
revealed that trajectories of high altitude balloons were, at times,
unpredictable and did not usually remain over Holloman AFB or White
Sands Missile Range. 28 Many of the scientific payloads required
recovery so the data collected during flight could be returned to the
laboratory for analysis.
These characteristics seemed to fit at least some of the research
profile. Atmospheric sampling apparatus or weather instruments, the
typical payload of many high altitude balloons, could hardly have been
mistaken for space aliens. A careful examination of the instruments
carried aloft by the high altitude balloons revealed that one unique
project used a device that very likely could be mistaken for an alien-
an anthropomorphic dummy.
An anthropomorphic dummy is a human substitute equipped
with a variety of instrumentation to measure effects of environments and
situations deemed too hazardous for a human. These abstractly human
dummies were first used in New Mexico in May 1950, and have been
used on a continuous basis since that time. 29
In the 1950s, anthropomorphic dummies were not widely
exposed outside of scientific research circles and easily could have
been mistaken for something they were not. Today, anthropomorphic
dummies, better known as crash test dummies, are easily identifiable and
are even the "stars" of their own automotive safety advertising campaign.
During the 1950s when the U.S. Air Force dropped the odd-looking test
devices from high altitude balloons in its program to study high altitude
human free-fall characteristics, public awareness and stardom were
decades away. It seems likely that someone who unexpectedly observed
these dummies at a distance would believe they had seen something
unusual. In retrospect, when interviewed over 40 years later, they could
accurately report that they had seen something very unusual.
With the introduction of anthropomorphic dummies as a
possible explanation for the reports of bodies, another element of the
research profile appeared to be satisfied. Specific information that
described the locations, methods, and procedures used to employ the
dummies was required before any definitive conclusions could be drawn.
To gather this detailed information, research efforts were concentrated on
high altitude balloon operations and the specific projects that utilized
balloon-borne anthropomorphic dummies.
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