NASA Astronauts and UFO Sightings
One of the original Mercury Astronauts and the last American to fly in space alone. On May 15, 1963 he shot into space in a Mercury capsule for a 22 orbit journey around the world. During the final orbit, Major Gordon Cooper told the tracking station at Muchea (near Perth Australia) that he could see a glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his capsule. The UFO was real and solid, because it was picked up by Muchea's tracking radar. Cooper's sighting was reported by the National Broadcast Company, which was covering the flight step by step; but when Cooper landed, reporters were told that they would not be allowed to question him about the UFO sighting.
Major Cooper was a firm believer in UFOs. Ten years earlier, in 1951 he had sighted a UFO while piloting an F-86 Sabrejet over Western Germany. They were metallic, saucer-shaped discs at considerable altitude and could out-maneuver all American fighter planes. Major Cooper also testified before the United Nations: "I believe that these extra-terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets... Most astronauts were reluctant to discuss UFOs." "I did have occasion in 1951 to have two days of observation of many flights of them, of different sizes, flying in fighter formation, generally from east to west over Europe."
And according to a taped interview by J. L. Ferrando, Major Cooper said: "For many years I have lived with a secret, in a secrecy imposed on all specialists in astronautics. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. And there are thousands of witness reports and a quantity of documents to prove this, but nobody wants to make them public. Why? Because authority is afraid that people may think of God knows what kind of horrible invaders. So the password still is: We have to avoid panic by all means."
"I was furthermore a witness to an extraordinary phenomenon, here on this planet Earth. It happened a few months ago in Florida. There I saw with my own eyes a defined area of ground being consumed by flames, with four indentions left by a flying object which had descended in the middle of a field. Beings had left the craft (there were other traces to prove this). They seemed to have studied topography, they had collected soil samples and, eventually, they returned to where they had come from, disappearing at enormous speed... I happen to know that authority did just about everything to keep this incident from the press and TV, in fear of a panicky reaction from the public."
Donald Slayton
Major Gordon Cooper
Donald Slayton, a Mercury astronaut, revealed in an interview he had seen UFOs in 1951: "I was testing a P-51 fighter in Minneapolis when I spotted this object. I was at about 10,000 feet on a nice, bright, sunny afternoon. I thought the object was a kite, then I realized that no kite is gonna fly that high." As I got closer it looked like a weather balloon, grey and about three feet in diameter. But as soon as I got behind the darn thing it didn't look like a balloon anymore. It looked like a saucer, a disk. About the same time, I realized that it was suddenly going away from me - and there I was, running at about 300 miles per hour. I tracked it for a little way, and then all of a sudden the damn thing just took off. It pulled about a 45 degree climbing turn and accelerated and just flat disappeared."
On July 17, 1962 Major Robert White reported a UFO during his fifty-eight-mile high flight of an X-15. Major White reported: "I have no idea what it could be. It was grayish in color and about thrity to forty feet away."
Then according to a Time Magazine article, Major White exclaimed over the radio: "There ARE things out there! There absolutely is!"
Major Robert White
On May 11, 1962 NASA pilot Joseph Walker said that one of his tasks was to detect UFOs during his X-15 flights. He had filmed five or six UFOs during his record breaking fifty-mile-high flight in April, 1962. It was the second time he had filmed UFOs in flight. During a lecture at the Second National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space Research in Seattle, Washigton he said: "I don't feel like speculating about them. All I know is what appeared on the film which was developed after the flight." - Joseph Walker To date none of those films has been released to the public for viewing.
Colonel Joseph A. Walker
Captain Eugene A. Cernan holds the distinction of being the last man to leave his footprints on the moon.
Captain Eugene Cernan
Eugene Cernan was commander of Apollo 17. In a Los Angeles Times article in 1973 he said, about UFOs: "...I've been asked (about UFOs) and I've said publicly I thought they (UFOs) were somebody else, some other civilization."
Ed White & James McDivitt
In June 1965, astronauts Ed White (first American to walk in space) and James McDivitt were passing over Hawaii in a Gemini spacecraft when they saw a weird-looking metallic object. The UFO had long arms sticking out of it. McDivitt took pictures with a cine-camera. Those pictures have never been released till now.
In December 1965, Gemini astronauts James Lovell and Frank Borman also saw a UFO during their second orbit of their record-breaking 14 day flight. Borman reported that he saw an unidentified spacecraft some distance from their capsule. Gemini Control, at Cape Kennedy told him that he was seeing the final stage of their own Titan booster rocket. Borman confirmed that he could see the booster rocket all right, but that he could also see something completely different.
During James Lovell's flight on Gemini 7:
Lovell: BOGEY AT 10 O'CLOCK HIGH.
Capcom: This is Houston. Say again 7.
Lovell: SAID WE HAVE A BOGEY AT 10 O'CLOCK HIGH.
Capcom: Gemini 7, is that the booster or is that an actual sighting?
Lovell: WE HAVE SEVERAL...ACTUAL SIGHTING.
Capcom: ...Estimated distance or size?
Lovell: WE ALSO HAVE THE BOOSTER IN SIGHT...
James Lovell and Frank Borman
According to the NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the Aliens have a base on the Moon and told us in no uncertain terms to get off and stay off the Moon. According to un-confirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after that historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a "light" in or on a crater during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard. According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange:
NASA: Whats there?
Mission Control calling Apollo 11...
Apollo11: These "Babies" are huge, Sir! Enormous!
OH MY GOD! You wouldn't believe it!
I'm 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!
A certain professor, who wished to remain anonymous, was engaged in a discussion with Neil Armstrong during a NASA symposium.
Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?
Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always known
there was a possibility, the fact is, we were
warned off! (by the Aliens). There was never any
question then of a space station or a moon city.
Professor: How do you mean "warned off"?
Armstrong: I can't go into details, except to say that their
ships were far superior to ours both in size and
technology - Boy, were they big! and menacing!
No, there is no question of a space station.
Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?
Armstrong: Naturally - NASA was committed at that time, and
couldn't risk panic on Earth. But it really was a
quick scoop and back again.
Neil Armstrong
Edwin Aldrin
According to a Dr. Vladimir Azhazha: "Neil Armstrong relayed the message to Mission Control that two large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. But this message was never heard by the public - because NASA censored it."
According to a Dr. Aleksandr Kasantsev, Buzz Aldrin took color movie film of the UFOs from inside the module, and continued filming them after he and Armstrong went outside. Armstrong confirmed that the story was true but refused to go into further detail, beyond admitting that the CIA was behind the cover-up.
Maurice Chatelain
In 1979 Maurice Chatelain, former chief of NASA Communications Systems confirmed that Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the rim of a crater. Chatelain believes that some UFOs may come from our own solar system, specifically Titan. "The encounter was common knowledge in NASA, but nobody has talked about it until now." "...all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial 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." "I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name 'Santa Claus' to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public. It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for everybody to hear: 'PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.' Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words." The rumors persist. NASA may well be a civilian agency, but many of its programs are funded by the defence budget and most of the astronauts are subject to military security regulations. Apart from the fact that the National Security Agency screens all films and probably radio communications as well. We have the statements by Otto Binder, Dr. Garry Henderson and Maurice Chatelain that the astronauts were under strict orders not to discuss their sightings. And Gordon Cooper has testified to a United Nations committee that one of the astronauts actually witnessed a UFO on the ground. If there is no secrecy, why has this sighting not been made public?
Scott Carpenter
"At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: there was a constant surveillance by UFOs."
NASA Astronaut Scott Carpenter
Carpenter photographed a UFO while in orbit on May 24, 1962. NASA still has not released the photograph.
Colonel Philip Corso
Let there be no doubt. Alien technology harvested from the infamous saucer crash in Roswell, N.Mex., in July 1947 led directly to the development of the integrated circuit chip, laser and fibre optic technologies, particle beams, electromagnetic propulsion systems, depleted uranium projectiles, stealth capabilities, and many others.
How do I know? I was in charge!
I think the kids on this planet are wise to the truth, and I think we ought to give it to them. I think they deserve it."
Colonel Philip Corso
Army Intelligence officer, former Head of Foreign Technology at the U.S. Army's Research and Development Department at the Pentagon. Four years Director of Intelligence on President Eisenhower's White House National Security Staff
"Mission control, we have a UFO pacing our position, request instructions."
Astronaut Cady Coleman
NASA Transmission - Shuttle Mission STS-73
Cady Coleman
This was no ordinary UFO. Scores of people saw it. It was no illusion, no deception, no imagination."
Air Marshall Azim Daudpota
Zimbabwe Air Force, commenting on a UFO witnessed in July of 1985 by many people and tracked on radar.
Air Marshall Azim Daudpota
"Of course UFOs are real, and they are interplanetary. The cumulative evidence for the existence of UFOs is quite overwhelming and I accept the fact of their existence."
Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding
Commanding Officer of the Royal Air Force during WWII.
Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding
"I looked out the window and saw this white light. It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said, "Have you ever seen anything like that?" He was shocked and he said, "Nope." And I said to him: "Let's follow it!"
We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light. We followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it."
Former US President Ronald Reagan
Describing his 1974 UFO encounter to veteran newsman Norman C. Miller, Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.
Former American President Ronald Reagan
"Extraterrestrial contact is a real phenomenon. The Vatican is receiving much information about extraterrestrials and their contacts with humans from its Nuncios (embassies) in various countries, such as Mexico, Chile and Venezuela."
Monsignor Corrado Balducci
Vatican theologian insider close to the Pope. Monsignor Balducci is on a Vatican commission looking into extraterrestrial encounters, and how to cope with the emerging general realization of extraterrestrial contact.
Monsignor Corrado Balducci
"We had a job to do, whether right or wrong, to keep the public from getting excited."
Dr J Allen Hynek
Director of the US Air Force top secret project Blue Book.
Dr J Allen Hynek
"The phenomenon of UFOs is real. I know that there are scientific organisations which study the problem. It must be treated seriously."
Former DEAD Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
Former DEAD Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
"Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe that unknown flying objects are nonsense."
Roscoe Hillenkoetter
Former CIA Director in a public statement, 1960.
Roscoe Hillenkoetter
Former CIA Director
"The security guard called and said, 'Sir, there's a glowing red object hovering right outside the front gate. I've got all the men out here with their weapons drawn.'"
"We lost between 16-18 ICBMs (nuclear tipped Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) at the same time UFOs were in the area. (A high ranking Air Force officer) said, Stop the investigation; do no more on this and do not write a final report."
"I heard that many of the guards that reported the incident were sent off to Vietnam."
Captain Robert Salas
US Air Force, during a videotaped interview for the Disclosure program.
Captain Robert Salas
"It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colours, and it was about the size of the moon. We watched it for ten minutes, but none of us could figure out what it was.
One thing's for sure: I'll never make fun of people who say they've seen unidentified flying objects in the sky."
Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter following his sighting along with many others of a UFO at Leary, Georgia in October 1969.
Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter
"The Air Force had put out a secret order for its pilots to capture UFOs.
For the last six months we have been working with a congressional committee investigating official secrecy concerning proof that UFOs are real machines under intelligent control."
Major Donald Keyhoe during a live TV broadcast on CBS in 1958 in which he was pulled from the air when he began to deviate from the prepared format of the programme.
"The UFO was bouncing around the 747. (It) was a huge ball with lights running around it.
Well, I've been involved in a lot of cover-ups with the FAA. When we gave the presentation to the Reagan staff, they had all those people swear that this never happened. But they never had me swear it never happened. I can tell you what I've seen with my own eyes. I've got a videotape. I've got the voice tape. I've got the reports that were filed that will confirm what I've been telling you."
John Callaghan
FAA Chief of Accidents and Investigations during a videotaped interview for the Disclosure program.
John Callaghan
"My own present opinion, based on two years of careful study, is that UFOs are probably extraterrestrial devices engaged in something that might very tentatively be termed 'surveillance'."
Dr James McDonald
Senior physicist at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics and professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Arizona before Congress in 1968
Dr James McDonald
"I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject."
Former American President Gerald Ford
Former American President Gerald Ford
"Look, I have a pension to worry about. I have a family to take care of, and they told me to just back away from this entirely or else."
Astronaut James Irwin
Apollo 15, to Frank Stranges after backing out of speaking at a 1976 UFO convention where he was going to "inform us of the strange things he saw on the surface of the moon."
Astronaut James Irwin
"This 'flying saucer' situation is not at all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is really flying around. The phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious."
General Nathan Twining
Chief of Staff, US Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Nathan Twining
"The evidence that there are objects which have been seen in our atmosphere, and even on terra firma, that cannot be accounted for either as man-made objects or as any physical force or effect known to our scientists, seems to me to be overwhelming. A very large number of sightings have been vouched for by persons whose credentials seem to me unimpeachable.
It is striking that so many have been trained observers, such as police officers and airline or military pilots. Their observations have in many instances have been supported either by technical means such as radar or, even more convincingly, by interference with electrical apparatus of one sort or another."
Lord Hill-Norton
Chief of Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence, Great Britain, 1973; Chairman, Military Committee of NATO, 1974-77.
Lord Hill-Norton
"We have indeed been contacted-perhaps even visited-by extraterrestrial beings, and the US government, in collusion with the other national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from the general public."
Victor Marchetti
Former Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the CIA, in an article written by him for Second Look entitled "How the CIA Views the UFO Phenomenon Vol 1, No 7," Washington, DC, May, 1979.
Victor Marchetti
"The Air Force has arrived at the conclusion that a certain number of anomalous phenomena has been produced in Belgian airspace.
The numerous testimonies of ground observations reinforced by the reports of the night March 30-31 (1990) have led us to face the hypothesis that a certain number of unauthorised aerial activities have taken place.
The day will undoubtedly come when the phenomenon will be observed with the technological means of detection and collection that won't leave a single doubt about its origin.
This should lift a part of the veil that has covered the mystery for a long time; a mystery that continues to be present.
But it exists, it is real, and that in itself is an important conclusion."
Colonel Wilfred De Brouwer
Chief of Operations for the Belgian Air Force in 1990 following a spate of sightings over the country witnessed by hundreds of people. Many of the sightings were confirmed on radar.
Colonel Wilfred De Brouwer
"There were orders to ship the material from Roswell directly to Wright Field by special plane."
Colonel Thomas Jefferson Dubose
Adjutant to Brig. General Roger Ramey at the time of the Roswell Incident, in a statement which contradicts the official story that the material was first flown to Fort Worth, Texas, where Ramey posed with Major Marcel and pieces of a weather balloon for the media.
Colonel Thomas Jefferson Dubose
"Wright Patterson Air Force Base was the headquarters for the foreign technology division of the U.S. Air Force. It later became the headquarters for the alien technology division of the U.S. Air Force.
Wright Patterson, for many many years was the central repository of not only the hardware, but some of the little bodies and even some of the living crew members who had been retrieved. It became very clear after a time that there wasn't enough room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. We literally filled up hangar after hangar with hardware.
We're storing it now in at least three different Air Force bases and much of it is being kept underground at a place not too far from Las Vegas just beyond Nellis Air Force Base which is repeatedly refered to as Dreamland, Groom Lake, or Site 51. That site today is one of the biggest repositories of hardware."
Sergeant Major Robert O Dean
Former NATO intelligence analyst for SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)
Sergeant Major Robert O Dean