Air Force Missile Development Center The Air Force Missile Development Center is an inactivated United States Air Force unit . It was last active with Air Force Systems Command , based at Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico . It was inactivated on 1 August 1970 . History . Origins . The origins of the Air Force Missile Development Center can be traced to October 1944 when the Special Weapons Field Test Unit was established at Wendover Army Air Base , Utah . The unit was a detachment of the Special Weapons Branch , Wright Field , Ohio , with a mission to evaluate captured and experimental rocket systems . The missiles were of three types : the first included power - driven bombs such as the German V - 1 " buzz bomb ; " the second were glide bombs equipped with wings and gyro - stabilizers , which could be controlled by radio or other means . The third consisted of conventional bombs which could be controlled by the launching aircraft . Numerous tests were conducted , including the Republic ‐ Ford JB ‐ 2 , a copy of the German V - 1 . Wendover was transferred to Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) in March 1947 and the unit at Wendover was inactivated . Holloman AFB . Established at Alamogordo Army Air Field , 16 March 1947 , absorbing the personnel and equipment of the Special Weapons Field Test Unit that was moved from Wendover . Pilotless aircraft , guided missiles , and other research testing and development program . Although movement of the missile program began on this date , it continued until September 1947 . Movement of the program from Wendover resulted in the transfer for 1 , 200 personnel . For the next 25 years the site , which became known as the Holloman Air Development Center , and later the Air Force Missile Development Center , launched many missiles including the JB - 2 Loon , Tiny Tim ( the first Army rocket ) , GAM - 63 RASCAL , captured German V - 2 missiles , XQ - 2 Drone , AIM - 4 Falcon , MGM - 13 Mace , MGM - 1 Matador and AGM - 45 Shrike . Resulting from a major reorganization , the 2754th Experimental Wing was activated on September 20 , 1949 at Holloman AFB overseeing all research and development projects . Again re - designated as the Holloman Air Development Center in 1952 , Holloman Air Force Base wrote its name into the annals of American history in the 1950s and 1960s . Holloman was the site of a number of tests designed to improve safety of Air Force flights and of upcoming manned space flights . The Aeromedical Field Laboratory ( AMFL ) was founded at Holloman in 1951 as a support facility for the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright Field ( today the 711th Human Performance Wing within the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base ) . The scientific work at AMFL focused on the effects of cosmic radiation , fractional gravity , and mechanical forces on living tissues . Tests prepared or performed at AMFL included Project Manhigh ( cosmic ray effects ) , Project Excelsior ( high - altitude parachutes ) , and a number of unnamed rocket sled tests ( escape from high - performance aircraft ) . Tests were performed on both animal and human subjects , and AMFL maintained a collection of animals at Holloman . Many of the tests were performed under the direction of John Paul Stapp , who moved from Wright Field to Holloman in April 1953 to become the head of the laboratory . Stapp volunteered as the first human test subject in all of the rocket sled tests . On December 10 , 1954 , he rode the Sonic Wind No . 1 rocket sled at Holloman in a run that decelerated from to a complete stop in one and one - quarter seconds . His body experienced over 40 times the force of gravity , in essence making him weigh for that brief time . In the third flight of Project Excelsior , launched from Holloman on August 16 , 1960 , Joseph Kittinger stepped from the balloon gondola at an altitude of and set several records , including one for longest parachute free - fall . The gondola carried a sign reading , " This is the highest step in the world " . Ham , the first chimpanzee in space , was trained at Holloman ; his name is an acronym for Holloman Aero Medical . His flight occurred on January 31 , 1961 . After Ham died in 1983 at age 27 , his body was necropsied and the skeleton removed . The remaining soft parts of his body were buried in front of the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo . Enos , the first chimpanzee to orbit the earth , was also trained at Holloman ' s Aero - Medical laboratory . His flight occurred on November 29 , 1961 and was the first US specimen launched into orbit . ENOS was launched in a Mercury - Atlas capsule that completed two orbits around the earth and was safely recovered three hours , 21 minutes later . Closure . On August 1 , 1970 , per Air Force Systems Command Special Order G - 94 , the AFMDC was inactivated and the Tactical Air Command assumed host responsibilities for Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico . Associate units and programs transferred to other locations within Air Force Systems Command . The inactivation resulted in the loss of more than 450 military and 570 civilian positions . The Test & Evaluation activities that remained were the Central Inertial Guidance Test Facility ( CIGTF ) , the High Speed Test Track , the Radar Target Scatter Facility ( RATSCAT ) , and the Target Drone Facility . These organizations were combined to form the nucleus of a Holloman AFB tenant organization , the 6585th Test Group , with the Air Force Special Weapons Center ( AFSWC ) at Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico , designated as the headquarters for the Test Group .