Project Skyhook and the Military Balloon Explanation for 1950s UFO Reports
Project Skyhook was a U.S. Navy high-altitude balloon research program initiated in 1947 and operated primarily by the Naval Research Laboratory and General Mills Aeronautical Research Laboratory.
Narration
High above the Midwest, a silent silver-white oval drifted unreachable.
Project Skyhook launched 1947 — polyethylene envelopes ascending silently into the stratosphere.
General Mills engineers tracked a 79-foot balloon and spotted something else entirely.
At stratospheric twilight the balloon blazed amber and gold, appearing self-luminous.
Classified payloads meant Blue Book investigators could never tell witnesses the truth.
Dozens of balloons crossed Soviet skies daily — yet American fields stayed officially unexplained.