 The organization investigated and encouraged the healing arts, but its prime focus was to collect and analyse UFO phenomena and interview 'contactees'.Due to radio and television interest, Van Tassel became the most well-known promoter of contactee experiences and somewhat of a celebrity in the 1950s.In 1952 Van Tassel himself claimed to receive messages via telepathic communication from an extraterrestrial and interdimensional being named "Ashtar".