UFO Sightings by NASA Astronauts

UFO SIGHTINGS BY NASA ASTRONAUTS Tim Swartz

Who actually sees UFOs? Unexplained aerial phenomena have been reported over the years by many intelligent and credible people. Police, scientists, astronomers, military personnel, pilots, and even astronauts, have all reported sighting UFOs. Nevertheless, skeptics of UFO sightings frequently state that no “credible” witnesses ever see them. The implication is that UFOs are seen only by those who lack formal education and cannot tell the difference between a bird and something genuinely unknown. Try telling this to some of our most respected hero’s of the modern era, those who dared to take the first, dangerous, steps into the heavens, and came face to face with the unknown. It may be a surprise to many that astronauts would e ver admit to seeing things that appear out of the ordinary. ordinary. On Earth, Earth, those who dare report sighting sighting a UFO are branded drunk drunk,, crac crackp kpot otss or ment mental ally ly unst unstabl able. e. Yet, Yet, many many highl highly y trai traine ned d and disc discip ipli line ned d astronauts, astronauts, both American and Russian, Russian, have publicly publicly acknowledged acknowledged that they too have seen UFOs while in space. This incredible information has been publicized, but largely ignored by the rest of the world. As well, the astronauts themselves have been reluctant to openly speak out about their sightings; that is until until they retired from the space space program. After that, some have honestly admitted their strange experiences. BEYOND THE ATMOSPHERE

From the very beginning of manned flight into space, astronauts encountered things that were not covered in their basic training. During the first American orbital flight on February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn, piloting his Mercury capsule, saw three objects follow and then overtake him at varying speeds. Glenn also observed what he called glowing “snowflakes” or “fireflies” that swirled around his capsule. Later flights flights also observed them and NASA officials officials surmised that the fireflies fireflies were actually bits of ice that had become detached from the sides of the capsule. Three years later, on June 4, 1965, astronaut James McDivitt on Gemini 4 sighted a cylindrical-shaped object with an antenna-like extension. McDivitt said the object was white or silvery in appearance as seen against the day sky, and was approximately tenmiles from the Gemini. “All of a sudden there was this white object out there,” McDivitt said. “It looked like a beer can with a pencil sticking out of it at an angle. It had a definite cylinder shape, about three times as long as its diameter.” The reaction of the astronaut was that it might be necessary to take action to avoid a collision since the UFO appeared to be closing in on Gemini. McDivitt did manage to take a photograph as well as shoot some film of the object before it was lost in the bright sunlight. After splashdown, the film was sent from the carrier to be processed and was not seen again by McDivitt for four days. When the NASA photo interpreter released three or four pictures pictures of the UFO McDivitt stated stated that the quality quality of the photo was so bad that it failed to reproduce what he had seen. NORAD NORAD made an invest investiga igatio tion n of possib possible le satell satellite itess and came came up with with the suggestion that the object might have been a satellite called Pegasus which was 1200 miles away at the time. McDivitt questions this identification due to the fact that the objec objectt he sight sighted ed appea appeare red d to be much much clos closer er to Gemi Gemini ni than than Pega Pegasu sus. s. Howev However er,,

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McDivitt is confident that what he saw was a manmade object, possibly a classified reconnisence satellite, which naturally NORAD could not d isclose. Later that same year during December's Gemini 7 flight, astronauts Jim Lovell and Frank Borman radioed Mission Control that they had a “bogey” in sight: Spacecraft: Bogey at 10 o'clock high. Capcom: This is Houston. Say again 7. Spacecraft: Said we have a bogey at 10 o'clock high. Capcom: Roger. Gemini 7, is that the booster or is that an actual sighting? Spacecraft: We have several, looks like debris up here. Actual sighting. Capcom: You have any more information? Estimate distance or size? Spacecraft: We also have the booster bo oster in sight. Capcom: Understand you also have the booster in sight, Roger. Spacecraft: Yeah, we have a very, very many -- look like hundreds of little particles banked on the left out about three to seven miles. Capcom: Understand you have many small particles going by on the left. At what distance? Spacecraft: Oh about -- it looks like a path of the vehicle at 90 degrees. Capcom: Roger, understand that they are about abou t three to four miles away. Spacecraft: They are passed now they are in polar orbit. Capcom: Were these particles in addition to the booster and the bogey at 10 o'clock high? Spacecraft: Roger -- Spacecraft (Lovell) I have the booster on my side, it's a brilliant body in the sun, against a black background with trillions of particles on it.

The general reconstruction of the sighting is that in addition to the booster, which was the separated lower stage of the rocket that took them into orbit, traveling in an orbit similar to that of the spacecraft there was another bright object (bogey) together with many illuminated particles. It has been suggested that the bogey and particles were fragments from the launching of Gemini 7, but this is impossible if they were traveling in a polar orbit, a different orbit from Gemini 7. In 1966, during Gemini 10, two bright red glowing objects captured the attention of astronauts John Young and Michael Collins as they circled the Earth. At the time they had ventured further into space than any other human, suddenly both astronauts were amazed to see that two bright red glowing objects now occupied the same orbital path as the Gemini. The astronauts immediately informed Mission Control, who in turn requested further information. In their words: “If you can get a bearing maybe we can track them down.” However, at that particular moment astronaut Young radioed back: “They just disappeared...” The offici official al verdic verdictt attrib attribute uted d the sighti sighting ng to space space junk junk discar discarded ded from from an unmanned Saturn rocket earlier that that month. The astronauts were adamant these were not stars and it is difficult to image what man-made device of that time could maneuver in the erratic way the objects did as they suddenly left orbit and quickly disappeared. Author Frank Edwards claimed that NASA deliberately pulled the plug on the voice link to the astronauts to avoid creating a sensation. In his book Flying Saucers -

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UFO SIGHTINGS BY NASA ASTRONAUTS Tim Swartz Here and Now , he makes the following allegation: “Friends of mine who were present at the Space Center during this incident tell me that the voice of astronaut Young was cut off the intercom for more than a minute as he began describing what he was watching. By the time he came back on the intercom he seemed to have been briefed, for that was when he “guessed” that he had only been seeing some satellite!” Edwards Edwards maintains maintains that as cameras became more prevalent prevalent aboard space flights, Mission Control initiated a five-second tape delay before releasing the pictures back to the networks. Ostensibly this was in the interests of “good taste.” Comments Edwards: “NAS “NASA A seem seemed ed to be afra afraid id that that thes thesee foul foul talk talkin ing g astr astrona onaut utss migh mightt say say a bad word...something like UFO perhaps?” SANTA CLAUS

Because of the unwanted media attention generated by the Gemini UFO reports, NASA instructed its astronauts to never use words such as "bogey" or "UFO" if they sighted something unidentified. Instead, the astronauts were to use the code word "Santa Claus" when informing Mission Control of unusual activity around their capsules. This This edic edictt came came just just in time time for for the the Apol Apollo lo miss missio ions ns to the the moon moon wher wheree unconfirmed unconfirmed reports say that both Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin saw UFOs shortly shortly after after their histor historic ic landing landing on the moon in July, 1969. 1969. Accord According ing to former former NASA NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving radios that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up this exchange: Mission Control: What's there? Mission Control calling Apollo 11. Apollo 11: These babies are huge sir...enormous...oh, God, you wouldn't believe it! I'm telling telling you there are other spacecraft out there...lined up on the far side of the crater edge...they're on the moon watching us.

Thes Thesee stor storie iess were were repea repeate ted d in popul popular ar UFO UFO maga magazi zines nes,, but ther theree was was no verification that the incident had actually occurred; however, in 1979, Maurice Chatelain, who was the senior engineer for NASA contractor North American Aviation, confirmed that Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the rim of a crater. “The encounter was common knowledge in NASA, but nobody has talked about it until now. In fact, all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of unknown origin - flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence.” FORMER ASTRONAUT ALLEGES UFO COVER-UP

The late astron astronaut aut Leroy Gordon Gordon “Gordo “Gordo”” Cooper Cooper Jr. said in 2000 2000 that that the government has “swept under the rug” the truth about unidentified flying objects. “Eac “Each h admin adminis istr trati ation on has has prob probab ably ly trie tried d to figu figure re out out how, how, with with the the leas leastt embarrassme embarrassment, nt, they could confess confess to this whole thing, he said. “They need to clean the slate about what has been going on or has not been going on.”

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Cooper felt that there had been very qualified people and qualified groups of people that have had interface of one type or another with extraterrestrial craft or beings. “To really deny that something is going on and deny that they definitely exist…we need a little more explanation.” One reason why Cooper was so insistent that UFOs are real was his own personal sightings in the 1950’s while assigned to a jet fighter group in Germany. While stationed there, he remembers very vividly a week in 1952 that formations of circular objects passed over the Air Base on an almost daily routine. “While flying with several other USAF pilots that week in 1957, we sighted numerous radiant flying discs above us.” Cooper said. “We couldn't tell how high they were and we couldn't get anywhere near their altitude to pin them down, but they were round in shape and very metallic looking.” UFOs UFOs were were to cont contin inue ue to haunt haunt Coope Cooperr when when the the Air Air Forc Forcee Colon Colonel el was was transferred several years later to Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Center in the California California desert. desert. In 1957, he was one of an elite band of test pilots in charge of several several advanced projects, including the installation of a precision landing system. “I had a camera crew filming the installation when they spotted a saucer. They filmed it as it flew overhead, then hovered, extended three legs as landing gear, and slowly came down to land on a dry lake bed.” Cooper remembers that the camera crew managed to get within 20 or 30 yards of the landed disc, filming all the time. It was a classic saucer, shiny silver and smooth, about 30 feet across. across. As they approached closer it took off and quickly disappeared disappeared into the clear desert sky. When his camera crew handed over the film, Cooper followed standard procedure and contacted Washington to report the UFO, and “all heck broke loose,” he said. “After a while a high-ranking officer said when the film was developed I was to put it in a pouch and send it to Washington,” Washington,” said Cooper. "He didn't say anything about me not looking looking at the film. That's That's what I did did when it came back from from the lab and it was all there just like the camera crew reported.” After he reviewed the film at least a dozen times, the footage was quickly forwarded to Washington. Cooper no doubt expected to get a reply in a few weeks' time as to what his men had seen and photographed, but there was no word, and the movie “vanished,” never to surface again. When the Air Force later started Operation Blue Boo k to collate UFO evidence and reports, Cooper says he mentioned the film evidence, but the film was supposedly never found. The rumors persist that American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts continue to see UFOs while in space. NASA may be a civilian agency, but many of its programs are funded by the defense budget and most of the astronauts are subject to military security regula regulati tions. ons. Becaus Becausee of this, this, astron astronaut autss are forbid forbidden den to publicl publicly y speak speak about about their their sightings. It must be remembered that even though the astronauts were seeing unidentified unidentified objects in space, there is no evidence that these UFOs were extraterrestrial spaceships hovering around keeping an eye on us. UFO means unidentified flying object and until we can say for certain otherwise, that is what we should think of them as.

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Hopefu Hopefully lly,, as time time goes goes by and more more astron astronaut autss retire retire,, they they will will feel feel fewer fewer restrictions and will openly discuss their UFO encounters. Then we can get a better idea of the kinds of strange mysteries that await us in the deep, dark reaches of outer space. -30-

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UFO Sightings by NASA Astronauts

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