Sacramento Bee article

The Roswell incident took place on Monday, July 7, 1947, when an airborne
object crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Explanations of what
actually occurred are based on both official and unofficial reports.The most
popular theory of what took place is that the object, or UFO, was a spacecraft
containing extraterrestrial life. Since the late 1970s, the Roswell incident has
been the subject of much controversy, and conspiracy theories have arisen
about the event.

The U.S. government maintains that what was recovered near Roswell was
debris from the crash of an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon
belonging to what was then a classified top secret program named Mogul 
(see below).

MaJ. Jesse Mar­cel displays the Roswell balloon debris

Captain Video and His Video Rangers is a science fiction television series
that aired on the DuMont Television Network from June 27, 1049 and
April 1, 1955. It starred Richard Coogan from 1949 to 1950 and Al Hodge
from 1950 to 1955. It was the first series of its kind on American TV.


 

Richard Coogan

Al Hodge

From left: co-star Don Hastings and Al Hodge

                   
                     Ed Donahue

"The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series
science fiction series. In this episode, the character Mister Spock, played 
by Leonard Nimoy (r) delivers the very first line in all of Star Trek, "Check
the circuit!"