astronauts & ufo, the whole story

7/28/2019 Astronauts & UFO, the whole story

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AS T RON AUT S & UFOs

u F o b u i r s . F a r i o n a r o b i e c r i o n s

rhis maqa,ife. critlcs are !fged ro

The Whole StorY!

Jamea . Obrg

Associate ditor

"Spee Wortd" magazine

r. / ,1 l l i{ / r ' / , , 4 opencJ nat : , t t , r. ' ic i / ' r ' ' " i t" i '1 :1 ' ' [ " 'tu 1 i ' !1"

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Sonreu'here ft there 'r*tnt obscrt'erc belierc, e intelLilcnt yetics lritll

technolopical cit'ili:,1tio11\ur nore adwttctl thdn tltdt of Earth Petlktps

thcy ,ne'scnditry rrs r.rdio siqrr,ls u'c h,u'c rtot recogni:ul I'erhaps tev lmtt


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archives as revealed ases herc UFOrcscarcheB withheld ceriain informa.tion iieely given thn by NASAofiicials, information irhich wouldhave clearly explained many cascswhich the auihors ivahted ro appe&mysterious. So the time has come totake a ncw look at thh wholephenomenon- Yhat s thc !ruth about''astronaut UFOS"?

The il.st step h any research mighrbe with the Condon rcportj rhoughrtly many to harc beD commissionedas a 'whiiervash'i of the UFOphnoncnoD. UFO nihusiasls areaccustomed o hearing hash crticimof almost all aspects l this siudy, buimy own oblect'ons o ihc ,.astronautUFO" seclion is from { novet angl.

My own .scarcb uggesis hai theCondon invesligator, ar fronl beiDgthe best man lor the job, was cleartyunqual i f ied o evaluai , e hc di i f icut tcases. He was not fanriliar rvith rtreteminology of spac-o lighr

or rhbasics f orbital night l.rajcck{j.:j,asaDr. As a resuli, h igDorod possibtcoxplannt ions whilc incofrec ydiminat ing o ther poss ib lc answes .

In othef x'ords, far fronr being acoverup, this chapter ot iho Condorepof! rs supcr t ic ia i . r is eni i re t ,lvoftnless As au ndoNemont ol rhounexplai t red nd unpxplainable arureof several s t roraur ighi jngsvhichwil l d iscuss . ca | pfolc th ls n ,nrark .ablc asser t ioD o rDy inv( , s r ig! torscr loLrs ) rough o cdl ls ider a | thf

evrdcncc. 11uch l \h ich has Delr rbebro beer publ is | fd .Tho Cordon rrport docs gjlr some

detar ls abou! ihe cnl i ronmenr otas l ronaut ight jDgs ,u l . .ven e .e doesiro t go rar .nough. lore s r res n .eds10 be put or rhe l isuat and phor{}graphic initatioDs ot spacc light: ihewindows re ar smaller han popular tyroal ized about half ihr s ize of rhhopen magazme al arnis lensih)j andfof many ycas wr subjeci. toobscuration ard smudging by seepag.or sealant and bv conl.aminarion v

rocket fuel . Ai var ious o jn ts n theflighi, the spacecrafi. {as $rroundedby clouds of debr is ( tcakiDg uel ,dumped vai.er, hipping paint. rayinginsulat lon , e jecicd equipmenr. andnore)j while ih"" nsld-"ot rhe weightress cabrn rvd usuau] plagucd withfloaiing particles ot dusr and dobrlswhich often pa$ed n frort of camcraspointing out windoivs. Oiher salc itsshould havc been lisibtc, slncc fewpeople rcalize thai. on any cleaf night

D .a t i " . ' h p . D p t . t s tp ! , ' . u n o r, n l s , r tp t so a , . p i , , u , e j , o t tp h n tae ' o p h , to h c4 b ) \4 5 .1 i , , . r , . " d r " , r /4 p tb b t r d n n o tn Th a t 6an y Ptcture t4hen b! on ast.anout ot an eorth rcsaurces sotettite isauoilable to onrone uho tlonts to Do\.fot it-

'1h.rc ore fout tiers of phobs;oih aLailabirit:- but tu o ore reserN.dlo t neusm.n otrL!. Th e stfucturc is 6 folloa.s:

1 T1". no! Dnputot \Dotr photogtophs tdhen orc htho|rcph.d Io lB.n Pru t . I r , p d ^ t \ t r aLrcn to o n ro n o ah o ash s o . th eh Sc t . r o l d o ? .h4 p L D h o to erap 4 s r . ad d o d t . th t . t i s t e , p r J y ?o t ao s t ro t r rA 5d

. B rh. ',IASA Pu\tia tntw.natia4 OUi..s at uoaous ccntei and aL4.ot1q,uort,.n ptints plo{! pha,aEroDlts |)t t,netr neus stnars la ldtsthbutton to thp 4ous dr.t,a. Hu4dh,d, al tl6p photoprophs orr.:E^|.d.:@\ ypot. but onlr ,.rtitipd a.u.mea fon T-oiup th.m 1. ,t r e , . , t A. J a . \En t . u n L? ' s ru ch as 7 2 H .3 9 1 , i . . . , to 7 2 aa t e3 g . . 1 l( n r r4 v rn u u lo r J s u . l a th e r p h . taen p h \ a rd d .o u t?Ss ao r b " o t

x tprett tu thp nrus npdia ond ..o thprt.r. tilpd ot p"hlii tnfo;nat,";

ac tu r t p t r ta to b u td e4 , u h n l t cu . , . N .4 sa o b o , r . n f d o o t p ;l

- .D . A n y . , t t . r u h o u o n ts ao p ip \ o f an y p h o to g rc rh t t , t r d ih ,B,o re r t i t . b u t i t i en t i . e ty h 6 u n b 1 p tu r \A SA lo .^o e . t1 , , ' n o p oy lo t i l . N p b . b u rcau p h aLo p ro p h , . to n ! , , , h o u o , ap t i tEh lpl" l.Ctophr 'lills ond 1rd A ao4 bp.t.t.rcd l.o,r Bor, Stud,"s, iu .

Da' ,.6. FkdchhutE. MD 207 t n. Th p cast ol;aJ ph"tog,oph o;d;.t;jF sp t erct dot|qt. opipcp A4r atos\ .. t, .c4rine ulr f scd rc t i A u t o t sa .o s t mo ie f .

' , an . t r cq n d p h o taE"o p l t s 1 a r l r c \o u t d c . id e4 t r. o u lo l l , f - , a rda ro 4 .1 . c lcas .b tc [u , p Lb h rc t , o " Ua . t , c , o l

o , t 4 t4 t l tE l l t t . d p ic io l o h o lu g ro p h ta x p . t i tn e rB, ch , u td , t to \1 4 tv tth ' u o t ) b u t th t : . i au o k ,d sp cc ia t aB! .d r o n d a^ - tu , i t , 1 , r J . t t ly ' ! 1 , . i l* r l t i ; , , t : :

r p i th a ca . c .u . . d td i t b e p .d 6 th 1 , "" , , t , t . a t r , , ,n rp h u te t t to t u !o p h o lag tu p h s l to h th c p u b l i .

, . ) . l t o 4 o u tp \ r t h p . o p h . o a t \ d t x , , t b r o . . t t , u t t i t t - p , . , h . . J " . ,

t r , t i4 o n d l ro n . aa tn t . . , . S i6 - t2 1 n 7 , t " , . " , t , aD t ," . t , l , i

t - . . \ . r \ . \l a ^ r a , / r . . . . . . r t / \ a . p o t f p t t , , t . t o t : , a t l n t ^ , t t \ L l , a u t t \. tp a t r , . - p o . . D h . ' 1 . , . r - r , t t1 , \4 f . \ . , ! \ t , t , . , , t . \ r n , c , t . ! . . . l t' :d t . t r t t : , t h M ' tu n t \ | ' . , i th , t . p , . t r d u r to t r ,r t c 4 \ \ t . n r t o r , p t , . . l s / j / . , \ 1 r . n , . \ L ! J t ! \ , , n t h c : \ p t , ] h 1 6l|i1:ht,. r'it,h th.. tt)stlt r)tl ol 01( :\p.nb pr.\ttt flitht iil,n )i;Lit fil;ts t'ut.t..t p. r Dktlta:,r, n,ith snnibt runtb.^

1 , t , , r h , t , r r J p l t r t . r t . l i i a b ! . l a . 4 . a n o r l n , " d ! r s 1 , . \ ' . t S t , ,.D n L u Ih t4 0 r6 tu Jh , to a . t . o n b " , , b to ta rd b \ an !u n . u h n l t^ Do \t'.r th t ttdt.a utu, pt d!.. !?.fpl r.lsn I iO

ih,n,,s,.ph:; ui,;ih.J ctotm.de b.int ^tddcn lron the -im.ti.an puhh. an d;rC o em_dt*nt...to ode ot thc no6t .p.n oad .oop?re!i.. pubh nIo,,,;trcnutttc.t ot an\ federcl oAen.\.

an observer n Eartb can soe a numbefof orbiiihg objeci,swiih only half aneffort. Out ofthis "background noho',,can rve separate he .\ignal,' whichwill indl.ala the axistenco of UFOS?

Thase problems all are ofinterest tospace ortlcials, and numerous srudieshave ben made_ Fragments mighrrmply a struclural ajlure (a rescue hipwas alDost sent o Skylab-s because fttrc crew\ obsen'aiion of reaking uldfoplets)- Debrh inside i,he cabin crntrrtalc eyes and daaage he elechonicgear behind ihe instrument panels.Other sateltites might be dangerousdue i.o the porentiat of collision orthey night be of inteuigence nterest ifthey are from son other nation.Thercfore, any nyste.ious spacesighl.ing nrighi as easity be vitat fo r

NASA o know about as i mieht be atrue UFO. Careful invesiiaai.i;ns are

Whai are some of the most famouscasesr nd what are he facis? nierpre-latrons may diflr, bui produciivel,hlDlingcan only be dore when aU heutbruation is at hand. Some

of ir ishald io find or understand; oihefrnlormatron, avaitabie to someresea.cheN. ay have been detiberaie-ly withheld. Some classical ases mayconsist of made up fantasies. ou cansoon udge or youbelt

Has ihere beFn anj at tempt ro' ' cover!p space iShhr jgsa ommonprea wnen no cvidence s available,eren in ihis age of sielelikegovernnenr secrccy)? Are astronauts"muzzled" aboui UFOS? ]as fifieen


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l

T h o , M c o i v i r t u F o"

p r z . { l n n l n s . * o n . ! t p h o t o r o p h c o i v n . x p r a n e d r d r e r f t e f h f l l s h t r h r t

r h o r u n w $ c o m i n g . c r o . t r h .N A S A o h o r o 6 5 - H - 1 O 1 3

yeats of manned paceflighincovercdrny evidence at all which evenremotely suggests hat Earth s beingvisited and ob6erved bY advancedspaceships rom another ,orld? Leltlook at the evidence

On June g, 1965, ookieastronauisJim McDiviit and Ed Whiie blastedoff ftom Cape Kennedy now againCape Canaveral), quezed nto iheirCemini.4 capsule. he two youngest_ever American spacemen were cospend our days n otbit, tripling heprevious US record. TheY would bethe li$t Ame can sprce crewmen ohav ime io sightsee n space, ncmajor experiments ike a boosterrcndezvous nd a walk n space werc

Approximately .hi Y hou$ intothe flight (while Whlie was ssleep),McDivitt eported hat he had seen nobjoct n space ear his space epsuleIi appeared o be cylindrical iih "anarm slicking out"i Posibly on acollision cou$e. Interesled NASAofficiols n Houston asked NORIDwhich othet space ateltites ere nearGemid"4 ai the iime of ihe sighting,and NORAD came uP rvith a list ofabout a dozen objects. All of thernwere pieces of tiny debris or smallseientific satellites xcept one: thegiani, "winged" meteor satellite'Pegasus-2.i seemed o fit the descrip_tion Edioed down bY McDilitt, so

6

NASA announced hai the objeci hrdbeen dentified,

Bu t Pegasus ad been mote than athousand miles away, and McDiviticlearly sav an object much closer'much more deiailed, and in an orbilvery close to his own ("lollhioncouNe'r io a Piloi means that therelative angle of sighf is unchanging'which would not be the case o! anysatellite crossingMcDivilt's orbil) The

objet bcame a UFO when nobgdycould ideniify it . Ii has rcmained aUFO up until iodaY, but noi anyLonger.

McDivllt'S hasw attempt to tahe aphotograph of the obieci through hissmeared window was apparcntly tuifless, since ihe object's motioncombined with ihe slow stabilizationspin of ihe spaceship arried t into thegla$ ofihesun afier aboui 30 seconds.The astronaut aier recounted how heweni ihrough all the films ol the flighi(every roll of film is accountd ror on

a flight manifest, so lhey do notdisappear) and found mary over'exposed or blank. This mission hadbeen the fitst flieht in which spacephotography wd a major axperimeni'and the glanng sunlight of space hadinvalidated many pre_fligbt exposuresettings. McDiviti did noi find anv-ihing which looked like "his UFO"-

What was it he saw? WhY has itbecome such a prominent UFO case?

And if ih plciures id noi iurn oul'where did NICAP get h "top fouf"photograph (which Ehows' -not. .owinged ylihder, ui a smeared loDWe can answer hese uestions t last

The firsthini as o the rue deniiiyof this space UFO can b found inMcDivitl'sown words, given i a presconfercnce week rfier the flighwhen his mmory was frcah: "l ilooked a lot like an upper stage f a

booster". Geminidoes ave boostejusi like li, {nd McDiviithad beecarrying ut mancu!n ear l earlv nthe flight. WhYdidn't ihe lhi fromNORAD nclude ha Gemini-4 ooste

NOIiAD had been tracking nobjects. but NASA had noi askeabout Gemini.4 nd ts own associatdebrisit had asked about Ceminiand any other srl,er saielliieAnyone familiar with comPuierizinformaiion systems (one of mprofessioml pecialliies) can gue

what hsppened: he compuier wagiven a "query" \i/hich told it tcompara Gemini-4 with the othsaielliies. he computer e\'er knewherc the Gemini booster was elauvto ihe spacecraft, ince t had not beeasked. McDivitt had been visuatracking he thirty foot long cvlindat a mnge of otrly 75 miles a few housearlier, bui this lalge satellite evmade tho "NORAD lht" becau


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5/25

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nobody i.houghl o ask aboui ii.l Tht

Whar ivc do kno$i ftonr thcroDrplf l i , Gfhinj- .1 r rans . r iprs( i r. ludiDtj h . o , D. ! r r l 1 lp . '1 lord ,{!s rvel l r s r pr. . |o i tourd Ljrk: t . i ilhr t tho Ul0 appe!r rd r rhf s rn ifpoiDt D lhe OemlDi rbj l shr rc theboos tor ' ! d beon eper iedh spot led0ann, r n r lx . l jgh1. I ' lcDi! iuradof .cdescr ibed seeing h ls boos ter vi ths faps hatrg ihg bh i t . Fuf lhenDorc.

oD at leasl orc occasion on thc iirslday, McDi!1t t ad ai l i r s{ . een hableto recognize he boosl.er whcn he saw1t because t vas cloR,1 . o hc gLar 'oflhe sunl This had bfer a l a rangf of

Yer another imp. r iant iaciorunkDoivn o the Condon ep . r i waslhat \1 .Di | i t l ivas complaln lng o theilight lugeoD about his eleslghtdur ing h is phde ol ihe l ighl . l i s eves

wor{'f0d aDd ltirlj due io a reachonrvirh ihe c^bh alr rosPhfr ( ' rd anr!cidrnral m!s i i ive rnre p i lL. d idnthir rk rvNs oirg nr b . rbL. lo h!cki1 . l l (Divl l l Lar0rhrd ndL. td L, )l i inh .

' l [L i i ! n ] i{L I f ' ( l cx! ! r !1 )$b f{ o n re r th r ( o f a p i lo ( r L rh t r r l . t !. ! ! s c ! r ch id g sLLh r )1 !r o b lLf l L .p ar a l l ( , 1 rb i r. an o b l ia !h ich h f h ada l ! - "ad ! in i s id c i r i f i r d N ! . \ ' h o u r \ a r l ic r , s to th e p h ( ) t i ) g r ap h . . L! ! es

i ig a to r must g o lh ro u g h a l l lh c f l ln o fthe ilighl lo realize holv corrrnon suchblobs ol light (olerexPosl'r.s.reilections. glare. etc.) lvefe. BolhN,^S,\ an d NlcDiviti hare !grud ihatih . sequencc of movie llames are a! ieN o u t . h r. in d o F. sh o iv l !g su D i ig h ir. n cc i iD g o ff a b o l l ag an is t h e d Lr t !{indoiv glass. NIOAP lhliksdiff(tenil! becausc of the back ol itscopJ of ihe pholo is a haDdNrilicn

Doie (Dobodv kDorvn by ivhons ir i .1!g hnt N ' l .Di! i r l Dobod! k.o ivivhe!) h!d .onrnrrDlcr | |d (Dobodbrovr howl th . h . r t ] r r i rh! picturn ' . \ e d h i r t i | O . i l h i s w r s m . d. l r t br r l f l .phone .onres r l ionb, s i , rhr xr l l i , t r and Ja, ] \cuff o\ l ( . \P ) , Uan 'h , . r i l l t i .

\ \ 'h \ has ths . ! se a .h le led suchnotor jer ]? t probabl! re$ ' l ted iomihe eDthus l | sn f UfO bel i!e6 . henai lc opfnnc\s o l \ASr\ publ

r.laliurs ofiicials. and ihc publicii.s tckiDgoppol lunisnr l $h . of ih

Ift.Di!iii hltnsell did 11i.tl-"o d-"athe case p , ns tead s lng t as a t lcheonlo nai i .DalTY ta lkJ ro[ l and neNintervie{s lespcially alier hire t i remeht n 1969J . b !dd to thnrlstery, th e lormer spa.eman assefi_I hale n*'er been abl-" o idebt ilt iiand I don th ink antone evi s i l l .


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On a recent .,UFO recoritinq,,released by Columbia, called ,.UFOslThe Credibility Facior,', McDjvittclearly shows how his memories havechanged or been changed o enhancetne mystery of his expedence: .Thev(NASA) checked NoRAD. . .to se;what they had up oD tadar and therewasn't anything within very closerange of Lts."Readers an measure .hecrcdibiljty of tbis statemeni

aEainsrthe facts.If McDivitt was fooled by his ovn

booster en yoars ago, is it too muchto expect him to admit ii nov? Whatwould thai do to atl of hjs publicassertions of mystery? There is aneasier way out, and McDivltt took itwhen I sent him an advance opy ofmy manuscript. After keeping i twomonths, he wrote back. '. I was nofable io read it very ihorcughly and Icanrot offer any extensive omments.I do not forcsee he oppodunity fo rmo io provlde

any further revie1v.,'There weren,i any enors in mvanalysis, he ihplied, but ii would b;beiter kept quiet.

NASA never had any real doubis."We beiieve t to be a rocket tank orspent econd iage fa locket , , ,wrotea higtr space officiat on July 1. 1965.NORAD officiats, confronied with myscenaro, endo$ed it r ,,youlcolnments on the NORAD role relaiedrc ine case appear to b logical,,'wrote NORAD pubiic Infor;arionOff icer D.W. Kindschi on Fb.23.1976.

So the "McDiviii case" is closed.The best space UFO case hss now beenidentified. Do not expect to see anychange in the UFO pres!, however.Such resultr are simpty ignored.

rhotographs made in space shovnegative ffects, such as he .,McDivjrtUFO" aura,. often. Spacecnft andastronauts may be engu)fed in as*ange aula caused by ovelexposureto sunlight bdghter than ever seen onEath. Blowups of phoioglaphs ofknown spac objects show rb.h

appeal'ng as "blobs" due to theenlargement process anit io thecourseness t the grain. ordinary spaceprcturs are full of ctouds of debris,constellations of man-made starlikepoints luttering through space.

The Condon report was fascinatedwiih the McDiviti case, and few UFOenthusiasts ave noi hedd of it. Butneither he Condon esearche8 or theaverage eader had ever had al l thefacts. Now peopte can make up their

own minds. I have no iloubt thatMcDvjtt was seeing his own Titan

Dr. Roach w?s also fascinated vithanoiher McDivitt sighting, hat of apoint of light crossing he sky. Theoblect sounded just like theapPearance ot an aJiificial earthsatellite, and thar is exacfly whatMcDivitt thought it vas. There s Do

intormation to suggest i was anythi.selsc.Another Condon favorite is a

Gemini-7 case. The report of sighiingsot a cloud of debris right at themoment of booster separation theseparticles ncluded rozen uei droDleis.the booster ihelf, assorred nsu[rio;and structural ftagmenis from wherethe explosive bolrs were fired, andother smaller objecis never denrifiedand never cared aboui) h not vervihpressive. The crer,,, on iheir firsispare rnission. !w a few pieces hey

nad not expected (the piloi guessed_wrongynhat ihey ,,were in Dolarorblt'). Onty a pafiisan diggin; forev'dence. and desperate o f:nd suchevidence, would make huch of this

But a sign of desperailon s indeed

found in conn{tion with the Cemini/^ut(J case . t js not the desperat ionor govemment officiats rlinr to coverup rhe truth about UFOS.Rather, t isrnc desperaiion of some outsiderrry'n8 to manufadure counrerfert--asrionaut UFO.' evideuce, n activrtv::i:i, *:*1".r bc necesary f thevrw evrdcnce qere aspetsuarryeas many hink.

It involves a photograph showinerwo very shange glowing objech. EachIs nexagonat n shape. viewed at anangle. and supported by a dazzljna-'lorce Uetd below rt . A cloud:covered earth rs , seen in the

. This phoro$aph has appearcd nDooks, magazines, hewspape$. andpamphleh. It js part of the hflveltins

ilffii"#3,"xi:",,T',fil;Ne\rnere. have heard it describedas

_showihga rypical UFO force fietdpropulsion

^system!'! and.!jmilar tovuref u!u photogaph kken ohlarln le same ear. ,

, The.-pioioS:aph is a forgery. It is anoax, what the anonymous counter.terrer did (I have reason o suspct a


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8/25

v, i s h r n 1 9 6 5 ,

New Jersey UFO group) was takean ordinary photograph f Earth madetuom the Cemint-? spaceship onDecember 4, 19tj5. Ihe nose of thespaccrafi. ilh lh lo\rer palt ot ihel |ame, and on thc nose. a iching heglare ol ihe sun, is a pair of roll.ontlol rocket thrusiF used o adiustthe aititude and spiD rate of the(imini. The original ph.ro TNASA565.63?22. which I halc peBoral ly

etamined) was hen retouched by theunscrupulous oaxler to elin1iDar-ahcedge of ihe nosc from view, so thedark surface ol ihe spaceship mergedihto the dark Earfh beneath. This tttlhe two now bysterious lightsscemingly suspended n space, as jrlvero. A normal spaco rourisi photowas turned irto convincing UFOcvidence. and ihousands of people

Amencan spacemen are not theonly ones rcporting UFOS, accordingto ihe popular press. Si.ries thaiallegedly com from Moscow Lelaboui UFOS ollowing Soviei mannedspace.raft I 1.he osrok and vosl


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a lolverfui arguNent against the

!a1idit1 ol ihe iumo$ so manl

ordinar,! LhiDgs boul the Soviti spaceprogram are secrcl (and Lolg pnson

terms aNait anyorl sho cven

accidorialL! dilulges such datal thal il

is jncredible hat so sensil'ir and s'g

ni l lcania laci as UFO sigb( iDgouldler eak oui , e len l such a th ing had

reallYhaPPned'Iho

r!|l0s of evidencf luve Dtens ire iched and broko! b! UI Oparihans. t i! Dot up i.o ne o

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ihai then 'qishtiugs rlef looK pracc

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bf happ! io coDsidcr r rdcDc' Dcn r

becoDres !ailab1e.l r i \ erami ' mor( ot lncsf

' ! ,osmonaul LlEOs" . r l j l ros ' t ' ' '

ll.11irrl The It'rn (luitoirr, rhc Ul"O

maqazinc 1lpcus t qLl1)rcdDour D

obiocl scen bY holh Vosl'ok 5 and

vos lok.6 . N ll4 t o l d isksrn lrv

voskhod '1 . and l i r rDre 'v l i |dr rs rD

sPac. lvhi.h ivfrc p'rlir!lh foln'd

rn . l had no rPor lurrs ' \ (ur Dr

vo\khod. l . Vor l ihod . dnr l n 'mrrra

r \n . : ) . l t ros hrvf evrn b ' r I b lau 'df . r th . t r ra l iur i . l ior r) l l r f V()skl! (n l2run)pi l01 . As I hrvr s r i ( | . l l r f i '' ' r rpor ls r ! l r rLrr l l \\ ( l r r r (. r r ' l Qfb . l r r n r (n ' r a s i l l r i lL r r l i ! ( ! r111 r j j

S u n ' l \ ( , r i . , ' l t h f i n . s L l n t L ' i L L i

rn d g h o u Lin r "s1 ) i r r L :1O 5 1 {t l f s

d cah rv i l l , lh f S r, ) _ !7 l i l rg h i . ' n l

w h i . l r ih . . f tsn , fD Pcn sh !dd u r i tg

ih o i r fu iLrn r o Eafu r ' t l l lo l l | | r a iu r c

h as leco n t ly b f .D f i (u Lr i i t ' g ^' ' l r an s . ! ip l" b e tw e .D lh f co smr t r a r r s!D d g n D d . o r l r o l . l ' h t c r cw n cD

d cscr ib e se ! e f r l g lo rv j i rg o d i )b je r t s

rn d d i{u s {h rm w i ih l l i lh r

'L ' o !n jo D e ian i l iu \ f i lh l l ' p r.N L

sp ace . to r rD rd co rn n u n r (d l ro n s , I i r' 1 r a r l sc r ip t" i s p a ie r t ly t !u r l . f r 0 ' i

So h eo n . ' s v iu id i ' n ag i ' r a r ' o D

emb o ld cD ed b y th k n o w led g f i lu l

ih e meD w ctc d ead an d co u ld n o l

arguc. murl have creal.1 th e enrrre

With o u i fu r th c r e l id cn ce . h c en tu .

c la$ o f "co smo n au t t lFo s" mu s i b e

rejclfd. Deliberatc aitempl.s t' )' ' rD u d d y lh e w aieN " abd 1 .o

nanufaci,urc hntasies ar. commot in

ihis UFO gennr. as nr ouresIn in les t ig a i in g Ph o lo g rap h rc

ev ld en ce o f U f0 s ig h t jn g s b !A mer ican as i ro n au is . {o rk ed c lo se \{ilh Ri.hard Lind.nvood at thf \.^SAJohnson Spac! CeDrer llor$dl) ih e

7 2

\'lanned Spac-"cralt CeDtrl nearHouston. UndcFlood is an erperienccd phoioinldprld \!no nas

examined ererr singlc Photographbrought back lfoD ofbii and belond,and his incredible ironor! canideni.if! ^ decadf old pholograph,describe hc siiLlalio!. and lind lh'c i ia l . ion, r he oid re .o td books i th inulDltes . The of l ice , ) f i l r is phologra '

nreilj. engin.ti is tuIl olliackld iiln

cans . ighl ables . for ld nd ocal naps ,rnd pils oi letter! lrortr .\'a'"r.roDauisand odirary ci l izer rs l ikf .

I tas hc iPn af l Lfos lLird ln 'oodars lvercd hat r i lh r 5 l r j i lu : I ' , ve c terfound alI th irg iI r i i0sPi . tLrr. s hatp trzzled Do or loDg. nd nr kind ordisappoiDted i \ foukl bf n ' r r rb l lexci i i rg o f iDd videtcf lor l rnotr lr ls r ' \ spa(s l r i ! : \ !hr f I l ' ( l \ r i ldshint br ( )adlv b(r i a ' ) l5A .orf ruP 'or "sFr. ( rsoahif . ther r re.$ . i i ia l1r cr l l i t ! 1) lck Undcn!ood

ar i l h is ( ) l l r, agtfs apu.k o l lLrrs

I ) is l ( t r l roDitd with l! td i tg of lhclru lh is nol a s i rangrr , ) l iddivood '$

offlce. howevcr. trlhn a IjFOrescarcher namcd AIan Stndler ilas\lorting on a book and a molie("UFos : Pas t . r. senl and Fui .ur !" , obc adlertised a! a "docLlmeniary"l helisited Undenvood s ofiicc and ookdl.hrough ozdE ol rolls ol lilm, wdiingclown ordcs id pr ln ts . f an ,v{h1 '1thar looked intere.ting. I his i'' asiandard s({!ice provided b,v NAS,\ to

Sandler hose a sci o l Pholographslor lris mo!i. Pholographs \!hichUndc$ood adl ised ln Probablr nhdroNd dusl particles n frrDt oi l.he.amcra. iebr is uls id0 hc spacecul t .or glar, of the x'ind,rws urrs as ras,venough o prolr bI l .oki ' l9 r l p . rh ' rcsahead of dDd b .h ind thf sh() ls urqucs l ioD) . T$o pholr )graphs verepar t icularh ' rP! '1 i r.

Thel both sM$rd a h lrc l i backgrornd wi{h r s l r i r re j l ic l t ls n l l ! 'n r iddle f ih . ! l )o lo!rapl) r lhf b(Dli

i{ i lh ihf s rDn 'r l lhouglr Lr i l l . r rbv rr. i ,hd !ul l ior.n(nr. r l l im!nf t ! . r l rhr lwr) shols nn

pr

1l

1


10/25

reproduced wiih the captionr .,Shotduring Gemini XtI on November 13,1966, snd said o be Asena Rangingr,rghts prior to docking.,. Theerroneous mptication of these wkiedwords is thai ihis ir another NASAexcuse fo r sohe remarkable UFOphoiogaphs. Satd o be angjng ights,indeed, neers he bookt

"Thqt'! e*actly what they were!,'

Underwood old me plaintively. ,Theyare part of the complete sequonce ftwenty photoguphs showjng theAgena as it noves from the sunliiside of Earth inro the shadow".

As Uhderwood and I stood in.ttlephoto laboratory nside building No. 8at ihe historic Housron space cenier,ine sequence was right there in fronrof our eyes on rhe glowing viewingboard. How did the "UFO tesearchpr"ieact io this explahation, I asked.

He continued o explain: ,, I tootrhe whole sequence with me toHollywood along with other filrnswhich NASA was providing. showedthe sequence o Sandler. He wasn,tintefested. Unfortunately he vreniahead .nd used the photographsanyway". Thousandr mo$ people

The ilighi of Gemini-11 began along battle beiween astronaut Charles"Pete" Connd and UFO beliele$. Theasrlonauts had take! ihlee even moreremarLable photographs. {.Pete',Conrad had sponed a moving objectoutside his window and had snappedoft a few franes of fitm, varying heexposure on each shot in an atiemplto gef at least one good view whichrvould how something.

Por a request rom NASA, NORADsoon eporled hai rhe object had been

"Said t6 bs rans n9

a Russian cosmic lay labomtory catledProion-3. According to Air ForcecomputeF, it vould have crossedGemini's orbii severar hundred milesbehind tle spaecraft. Yet rhis objecrsas in a different direction and wsmuctr too dce. It iras a UFOI

Despib tnese objecuons, NORADwas right tor &e rrong reslons. TheobJect vrs inded hotor-3, eventhough the Aeriar lheromenonResearch OBanization (A?ROI and ilsresearch direc|or, Dr. James Hardet ha.snade nuch of ihe discrepancy ndconsideE this the besr cemini UFO

Few researcheF ave noticed, andnone had recognized he significanceof the fact, that the Proton-3 satellirewas only hours away flom buning upin thc atmosphere. A! its orbitdecayed toward a fiery doom, itcircled Earth faster and faster, unningahead of the schedule predicred byNORAD.

lhe simple tluth, ottn ignored ordiltorld by mrny nrilers, is ihatNORAD does noa "tract verything nspace" like lhe radlr scren! of someair iraffic conEot cenier. Instead,objecis which pass hrough the bansof a hancltul of woddwtde radar sites(at a rang of a thousand mlles or less)are obsrved nd caialogued, nd theirorbits are calculated. Thse caicula.tions are then projecied forward intime (the mathematical etm is ,,extts.polated") to ploi where he spacecraftshould bo if ilr orbii hasn,i beendlanged.

Gemini'! orbit had been changd ya rendezvous ocket fidng. protontorbii wa! changed by its decay. Iordered nicrofllm copies of the lastfew NORAD pred:ciions froh theTracking Reports Sectjon at the NASAGoddard Space Center in creenbeli.Maryland, and as soon as read hen I

The predictions were of f by severalhuhdred miles par dayl Each newprojection made a correction ro ihepfevjous one. Using a combinahon ofthese igures, a new altiiude diffelencebetween Gemini and Proton couldeasily be computed. It was entirelyclose enough to coincide with theasironauts' ighting.

Furthermore, the asironaurs haalmade a dsual as well as a phorographicrecord. Their eyewitnes testjmonydescribes a satellite that look likeProton-3 ooked, as shown bv exhibitsin Russian ruseums: siubbt cylinder

1 3


11/25


12/25

( a r o w ) a n d o x r r o m o n a r s o m e n i 1 m s q e U F O m ae a z i n e s

Leit take a momeni io look ai. haApollo-12 ilight more careiuliy. Itprobably raies as one of the mosi."U!'O'ridden" space lighis ever made.

and probably did more than anyApollo mjsio! io encourage thesto es of asironaut sightings f UFOS.Wha! ies behind all thes tories? Whostarted them'l What is the "official"NASAposi i ion?

Apollo.12 was launched onNovcmber 14, 1969, on thc secondmoon landing nlssio!. The crervconsistcd of Gcminill lcterans" lc t . " Contad and Richard Gordon,and spacc Krckie Alan Bean (Conrad

had also flown into space onGemini 5. ) Taking olt during athund.rstorm, iho crafl wrs lwice hi iby lighining which threatened i.o

Instead, ihe flighl proceedcdsu.c$fully to the filst pinpoini tnoorlanding four days latr. AshonauisConmd and Bean new their LuharNlodul n to a precision orchdoivhnear the Surleyor 3 au|omaiic 'noonpfobe. During a scheduled moon walk.ihe men Etrieved samples uom theroboi crafi. The relurn on Dai th was"rouiine", if fllghts to the moon canever be consider-ad ouiine-

Oh the outbound g, Conrad admdio-Ad .o Earih thal. th Apollo lvas"being fouoved". Thk hossage, rahs.t l i t ted ovef he open adio inkj washcad by hundrods f newsmon nd bymillions of Americans. i lmlnediatelygave isr io nw UFO stori-as.

According to l,hc rccount bestthown to UFO believers published nSdgo magazine, May 19?0, cDrltled"Apollo 12's MysternnN hrcourterrvirh Flying Saucds". wfiflcn by T.c.Ucckleyard H. Salkin), he asirohautsrvatched lvo flashing ighi.s ear hcirCom'nald Modul aboui. 150,000miles out from Earth. At firsf. ihe

1 5


13/25

a p o i r o - 11 u F o , 1 e 6 e . o b j c t

of obvious !pacecrafl insutation

ground hought t was their SIV-Bbooster oclet but quicklycalculatedthai it wouldhave been n a differentditeciion. Next, they suggested hat

tbe lighis could have beenpieces

fthe Lunar Module "garage", called"SLA Panels", which are quite aryeand highly reflectivd. Conrad, o iheUFO siory goes, emarked hai ihiswas unlikelyslnc one of them hedsuddenly eken off at a high veloclty,someihlng hat a piee f space ebrissimply could noi do. Finally, th

astronauts decided to ignore theapparently haimless escort and carryon with their mtssion.

In lunrr o$it, new (or peftaps he

sane) UFOS dogged he spacemen.During the descent o the lunarsurface, illions f television atcherson Earih saw bright objects rossingihe lield of view of the Apollo TVcameras. Simlld objects were saendudng he aunch rom the rnoon andduring he final approach o Earth.

Here. then, is a major case or

"estronaui UFO sightings".Besiihe three astronauts, millionsAmeucans aw the TV imags nheard the voices of the crewm

wondering hat the objectr ould bThey were obviously unideniifthey {,ere flying in space, nd thwere objects fsome ort.Hence, hwer ro6.

Th "Fawcett List" of space UFEays hat the asironauts taid a UFaccomprnied hem all the waywiihln 132,000milesof the moo

6 3 . S m e a G . n d s a r a s h a n q et " u f o n a u l r , ( 1 9 ? 6 ) a s i q n s o b j e c r o J o h n c e n n t f i i s h r ,

16


14/25

/

41\ . 1

" it s a 1 : [ 1 . ! e r

p rc . ed r rg d rem a l l th e { ! \ " Th eo n g L! o f th a l n r i l eag e jg u re h o b sc ! r e .b ur i i l en d s u D n aran ied au th en t ic i t !

O b so n a lo r l . s in Eu i )p c l l so\ r a r c lk d Lh r | 1 ro U FO S, o l l ' e f d N rcs( i . a l . E ' n b r lL ish i lg h . s to r ! . an o th erU FO lo u rce . l a in s ih a t N e \ i d a ) ,th . 1 5 ih . a t 2 1 1 ; h o u s . o n e b r ig h t

r ! !o l! i rg I 'ghi appfoa.hed re Ap, ,Llo12 tpacecraf t . la{ .e l t . nol 1{) bfouidoD. . xLo cL:r ih! ihat theas lronauts hotographed lre Ul0 (orLlF s ) .

Ore of tbe louden proponent \ fihe Apollo 12 LilO is APftt) r'(,n,archdirc l tor Dr. J rmes Hlrd( ' . , \ i a LFOsj n ,p , )s iu 'n ! r lh( UrLr. s i l l o l

( r r l i lornh t Sar i ra iuz o! ^"oreDrb0l8 . 19i5 , Hardcr la inred hai o tr f r-Fo' ' lo l lo \ r fd , \pol lo 12 on lhrcf orbi isa! )u .d lhe moon ' Fu '1hfr. N- \S-{\uppresed hr UFO n. ider is or I r l ro t prnic ' , bur Harder was able n)dis .ov. r he s ight incs c .ause t lvasdinl , ) s fd b t a rneDbfr ol rhe sPacetedn ' iho he re iLsed o id l l r i i l r.

l 7


15/25

Since all the material }larder used to"prove" the cxistence f lhe incidentsrvere public nformation (Hrrder couldhave ead t in Sdga, which is hardly atop secret govemment leport)i hisrelerence o a coveNp rnd to secretinside infornation vere cleady oniygimmicks to impress he news mediawith ihe value of his "information".

NASA, meanwhile, says that no

such UFO even! ook place. The ights,accor.ling to Dale Mye$ (AssociaieAdministuior fo r Manned SpaceFligh[; quoted n a letter datad Feb. 5,1973 to Mr. Donald Raisch of APRO),were spacecraft tagmentsr During allof our Apoilo lunar missions, bjecrshave bcen sighted by the variouscrows. Subsoquent io the crewsightings, thc flight conrroltersdtermincd the observations wereprobably ciiher the SJVB booster, hespacecnfi lunar adapter (SLA) panels,or smaller objech such as mylar foil

particlec. Becausc of thejl large sizeand highly reflecill]e surfaces, theS. M and SLA panek should bevhible al $eat dhtances n l.he space

Ashonaut Conrad, as qLroiedearlier, claimed hal ihe flashing ighiswere obviously SLA panels ui tbat hewas joking wiih lhe ground. itedenouncod he Saga slory cxpli.itlyand gave hh opinrctr ha! Hardcr was a"kook". Ashomut Cordon haspublicly slaied hat he has never een aUFO on any space light. Alar Bean,

thr only one of thc hree i i l lon aci iveN^SA duiy, issued a sraiemcnt soonattef Hardcfs latest charges went oui,over the news hedia late n 19?5, n aUPI dispatch:

"Asl,ronaui Alan Bean. .said tharat no time duling hh mission did heevef s ee an unidoniifid objeci. Baansaid thal {here were some moiallicparts which floak'd behind heir space.craft aficr the Apollo-12lunar modutelitted off liom the moon. He saidthese small piec$ were visible uniilihcy (the astronauis) madc an eogine

burn. The hetallic objects were partsof th{} insulai,ionwhich came off rhelunar module durjng the launch phaseand Iunar orbital phasc. AL no timedid we sce anything which was nor ofour spacccraft, oither during lunarorbit or during he loyage to and fromthe moon, Bean stated.'.'f o Hrrder and his ,,NASAcoverup j ihese sialenents are jusi,more lies designed o corfusc theAmerican ubl ic .So le t t go back ro

t 8

the fiey Apollo-l2 Ul-O encounier andtry to ctetermine usl, who is coDfused.

Late on Novenbr 15th, 1969,about 150,000 statute miles fromEarth, the Apouo c rew was talking tocapsule communicator altronautGemld CarI about some lights theywere wal,ching oui their window.

Apollo: The object is very bdghtand it is obliously something hai is

tumbling. It is tumbling (at) one andon halr rev(olution)s er scond! r aiiedt it is flashing at us (at) abour rhar

its posiiion at a "higb rate of speed,',an impossibility, unless t really was amaneureEble spacecmft of some sort.Bul where does one find ananeuverable spacecrafi nearly150,000 miles fron Irhe eaih? Theanswen (excepting Apollo 12 itseu) nNovember of 1969 there \r.eren'r ny.The conclusion is inescapable: One(possibly iwo) naneuvenbtespacecrafi rol of man-made originwere tbllowing our Apollo 12 onNolember 4 and 15, 1969. , ,

To anyone familiar with the flightplan of an Apollo moon flight,Conrad\ $ords mpl) nothing of thesor i . T$o iact \ mus t be broughl . omind. First, Apollo and [he Capcomwere discussing he present ositjon ofihe SLA panels ascd upon thcir initialseprration lelocities trom the spntS.IVB rockei stage. Second, he SLApanels break ree after ihe Apo o puUsoff from lhe boosterj ihe ashonautsthen pedorln a maneuver calted the"turharound" the Cohmand Modulereiurns lo the boosier to dock wiihthe Dow exposed Lunar Module,before pulljng the LM freo from iir"garage".

Siriking the UFOIogisi,s punctua-tion and clarifying words from thecommunicai ion! nd put i ing i i inproper perspcctive, whai conrad was

Apollo: That could be true (ihaithe SLA panels were ying off ar oneor so feef per secord), but, gee whizrwhen I turned alound (righr aft0r theyflew frcc, thirty-three hou$ ago) sawohe of ihos SLA panels eaving hearea (of tho LM ,,garag,') ar a highraie o{ speed, nd i looked to m thaiit was leaving us pretiy.. .a t a prrtyrapid clip, like ii, gor a loi more rhan afoot par second r so.

The UFO betioveN' rdsoning-andth enlire basis or Hardefs and forthe Saga a(iclet Apotlo-12 UFOsighting-is phony. 'l'he mosi genercusdescription of it would bc a mistake,misreading f thc transcriprk mcaningm a n a t r e m p t o . . p r o ! e , , a U F Oincidcnt that never roatly happenedoutside of the feriilc imaginaiions olcertain UFO believeB. Conrad\statemeni, Gordont siatement! Bea!,sstatement, aDd the NASA lefter musLstand validaied on ihis case: Apolo_12was noi tbllowed by a UFO on ft s

But how aboui on ihe way bact?' 'A l ighl of ind ' s t inct shape, 'wasspotid just prior to re entry.

CAPCOM: Roger. We

0APCOM: (Apollo)

Apollor Go ahead.

12, ( th is is )

CAPCOM: As best we can tell,looking ai things down here! on thoseSLA panels, we assume hey weren,iimparfed wiih any great amount ofdelia.V (velociiy change)-like

anything mor than one or so feet persecond when they separaied(thiriv.ihree hou6 ago). Your SLApaneh would probably be only about300 (naut ical) h i les (345 s iaiurmiles) away fron you right now.

'k***The fouowing reply byConrad has been claimd by UFOboliovers o indicate thai the lighh(lhc so'called "SLA panels") halesuddenly pulled away from lheApollo, something that a rDmblingpiece ot debris could noi do, Toclarify ihe meaning, unctuation and afew exila parenthetical wo4ls havebeen added by the UFOjogists:

Apollo: Thai, could be rue, but 6eewhiz, wher I (jusi) iurnad around Isaw one ol those SLA panels,'lcavingihe area at d high rate ofspaed, aDd tlooked to lne like it was lcaving usprcity (faso-at a preii.y rapid clip,liLe ii got a lot more than a fooi pcr

CAPCOM: Well. since ve don'ireally have any ided hov they lefi. orwhal their traje.lory could be, tkkind of tougb really to say us t whaiihe heck hat could be_

Apollo: Okay. We'll assunre L\tuiendlyanyway, OK?

The UFO rcasonirg. as worded byAPRO member Brad Spatks, goes asIouows: "After the SLA panelssepamted ard the S.IVB'S anks wereempiiod (on Nov. 14) they could norchange heir velocity simply becauselhey had no fonl of propulsion ro doso. Bui Conrad saw one of the ..SLApanels" (on Nov. 75fir)suddenly eave


16/25

i[}ral

. -

f1


17/25

according to UFO sources. Sogarepor ts hat ' ! . . . a i 11:47 a .m. onNovcmbet 241ih, be spokesman orApollo 12 repoded in a siadled voiceths! they were all watching a brighirad objcct nashing bfilliantly againstthe eafth." This incident was caretullyanalyzed by il|ad Sparks of APRO (lam indebf ed to hh leiter to Sago ofAugust 28, 19?0, a lctter Sagd dilornever botherad io answer), whoobjecis ihai "the astronauts did noireport that the objeci thay vcre seeingwas rad; and l,hcy slated spcificallythat ' i t t a s ieady ighi ' , nol , lashing."It was sn between hem and tbc darkearth, somewhere off the coasi, oflndia by a guess of i,h crevmen.Prhaps t was a ship's searchlighf ,perhaps a fire, perhaps a v'olentlighining storn. . .iherc s no rcason osuspect hat it was a craf! in spacc.The astronauis os t sighi of iho lighi asthey t'1med he Apollo to iakc a seliesof photographs f the sunrhe.

The rvild faniasies pinted in Sagddo not end hre. Beckley and Saltinclaim that the astronauts had been'\iarilod by unaccouniable sehmicdhturbancos on the luDar suface."This eveni never occurrcdj here wereno such earLhquakes uing their visii.

Beckley and Salkin refer io "amysterious blue halo encircling one ofour spacemen." spaYks of APRoconsiders his to have bean unar dustkicked up while t he crewmen wercwalking around. Photo analyst DickUndervood sLrggested hat it is adefect in t he developmcni of thphoio caused by the vivid solar glareoff of a highly reflective su aceiUndeNood quickly located half adozen similar "haloes" oh other space

20

phoios taken duing the 1960s.Whatever t was, his "halo" appearedonly in th phoio, and was neitherseen nor remarked on by the

Houston radio commentaior andU!'O enthusiast Frank Haley has hisown iheory about why the Apollo-l2TV camera did not work on the moon(NASA says Bean accidentally ointedit ioward th sun). Says Haley, "Thecamera was inieniionally shui off ioavoid showing somefhing on the moonihai disiurbod lhc asironauls"("llaley's Comment" nelvsleiter, Mar.22, 19?6) . i i s only a mal icr of i imebefore ihh nonsense absorbed ntothe lole of ihe "Apollo.12 UFOS".

But lpollo 12 did see someunideniifi0d flying objecl,s, nd NASAengineers wele justifiably concernedthat they could hav been debft fromimportant spaccrafi, ysiems whichmight indicate unexpectd ailures, orwhich might interfere wiih otherspacecrafi equipment. Honce, theManred Spacocuft Center n Housion(now the Johnson Space Ceniar) gavea contract io Lockheed o study iheobjects seen on ihe TV pi.tures and on

Th. Lockheed rcport was quietlyissued on March 18, 1970, about thesame ime that iho sensai,ionalized ndficiionalized Sagd siory was beingp ntad. Titled "Unidentified VisualPhenomena Associaied with SpaceFlight" (NASA Contra.t NAS 9-5191,LEC/HASD No. 6?1-80.013) , herepo$ docunents he "moon pigeonJ'(a l.erln coined by NASA engineeN odescribe unexpected objecis seen inoperational phoiogaphy lhalr defyposilile 'dentincation") of Apollo 12.

Contraet engineeF wele F.D. Beaityand J.C- Baron.

"Unidentified lisual phenomenaassociated with space flight wererather common operaiionally, " revealthe authors," but. - . "little or nodocumentation ot p6t elents has beenmade." Before UFO believe$ urnp upand down with contirmation of awhole naw family of "ashonaulsightings of UFOS", the autho$

their intention ofdenonstrating that "such events wercspacecnft debris asociated with anearlier pyrotechnical opetation, or ice,or windov refleciions. Cases or eachof these heories have oen prerentedand exhibiis of similarocincluded. Positive identification wasnot possible.. The quality of theimagery precludes a precise definitionof Nhe object under ques i ion . . . I ngeneral, it tales much moreinformation to ideniify an object thatit does o detect t. "

Sixteen millimeier color magazine1165M, exposed on Apollo.12, showsihree objects, called "A", "B", and"C". The objects ippeared uring theLM jeltison maneuver n lunar orbii."A" is b elieved o be e small segmeniof the docking channcl; "8" wasidenl,ifiedby engineer s s a poriion ofthe docking ring, possibly ihefiberglass ealt "C" was probably partof the elecirical hamess. All were nearthe spacecraft and werc tumbling.From this and othe! examinations,Beatty and Baron concluded that'lmosl '!moon pigeons' have as theilrowce a plogrammed pyrotechnicevent and are ihe normal dbrisassociated ith such an ncideni. Theyar often spectacular . . Tbe mainthing to be earned rom this study isthat ihe eveni (in question) was, n auprobability, a normal resuli ofrouiinespacecnft operaiions. . These daiawiU undoubiably be of use to theengineering, scieniific, and publicrelations communities." The closingreference lea y indicates hat Beattyand Baron weF aware of ihe "Apollo_12 UFOS" controve6y and telt ihaitheir siudy would be useiul indemolishing any UFO buffs' wild

Unfortunaiely, he "moon pigeons"repolt seems o have been iled awayin the NASA archives. aron, who siiUworks at the Johnson Space Center,iold me eady i. 19?6 that he nevergot any fedback on his reporti elenthough ii was fun doing t ard it had

hese wo UFOs wr


18/25

Trrs photowas.snappa.t ntymomenrs rtetAtdtrn's th.,t apotto 1 shot. Herc he wo uFosave egun hah sepantion nda heto-lthl otce ieu betweei he wi i-s;;"rj;J;;r'.-

pretty obvious mplications for UFOreports. NASA apparenily decided olei the UFO rvdieB spread theirrumou, hoping thai the stories wouldfade away fignored.

Whai had happened, hough, was anew shot in the arm for "astlonautUFO cases". The explarations couldnever cai.ch up with the misinterpreta-iions and wrong imple$ionselgendercd by the o!.rheardconve^atiohs ahd viewed mages romApollo 12- Milliohs of Americans werepractically eyewitnesses o a "spaceUFO". and were suitably impressed-

" E x c i u s i v eN A S A P h o t o { , a n d N A s a

r h e m o o n ( a d . i n t u r n a d l h e c a m s r a o n b va c c i d e n t w h i e c h e c k n s e q u p m e n r, )

When presenied with the Soad sioryand wiih APRot (and MUFON,S)accounl or the "nahouverirg alien

spacecrafi at 150,000 miles fronlarth", the arelage citizon could onlyassume hat ii mighr ndeed be rue. lfNASA was denying i. welt ihen, i.hegovernmeni has bcen known to lie to

It is a lain hope o inagine hai. hetruth will ever catch up to ihe Apotlo-12 and oiher UFOS. A9 detailed here,the Apouol2 UFO never exis ted .Somehow, millions of peoplc believcthat it did. Therc is sufficienr blame

2 7


19/25

for this del sion to be generouslyilistributed to UFO buffs, NASApubLic affairs office6, sensation-seeking ne\s medja, and lazv readen.And the "asironaui UFO" genre s noi

]e t complete Let\ return to some

Another examPle of seleciiveomhsion of facis occu$ in th

22


20/25

"rFawcett tist" of astrcn.ut sightings.qeorge Fawoeti h a respcted andldrl.haded UFO rcsearcher inMaiden, .No h Crtolina. But angxdhple of his work givesa dllferentimpredslon:

"GeminlXII:Jim Lovell nd EdwinAldrin 3.w four UFOS inked in a rcw.Boih sFcemen sald the objech werenot stArs" (quoted ftom The Edge ofReollty, Hynek & Vallee, 19?5, page64)... . Fiom the GT.12 AsironauiDebriefing ageK/3,4, Lovell elatesi"During he ast EVAwe discarded, neddition to fhe ELSE (life suppotsystem), hree ba$. About 2, maybe3 or possibly , orbits ater st sundsecohditipn, we looked out again snd3aw 4 objech ined up in a row andthey rweren't tar6 know. They musthave bsen hese 3am6 hings we toGsed

. The orignal dbtortion ot this\. enttely ordinaly elent, accordlng o'the opndon Rport, is the

rsponsibility of UFO wdter, John. Iftel; Fawcett ook It andembellished

it .Another of Fawceit's favodtes is

Meru!y.?: "Scott Carpente! cpoJtedth8t he had what looked like a goodshot of a sau4er," Elsewhele hdalmed' .that Caryenter "took aphotograih of a classical aucei-shapedUF'O with done that followed his

In fact, ihe photogaphs show anentirely ordinary object: a spnceballoo! ejected ftom the capsule or

iNAaAphoro rrchr) L3nla-2140od vlrl.tlon!(blow) pubttrh.dwith .roh.ou. c.ptlon.,

tracking practice.The balloon did notinflate but dpun n a imp oblong sack.

Tho flight schdulo and the voics. transnlbsions confltm this unexcitlng

xplanation---and confltm Fawcett'sfentssizing,

An example of the difficulty of"disproving" an "ashon&ut UFOsighting" is the l\ilercury:g case in1968. Well est&bliBhedn the UFOlote, the stoly claims hat on the 15ihorbit, over Muchea, Ausiralla, heashonaut (Gordon Cooper) saw agreen object. More han one hunclred

people t the tracking tation sw hebogie on a !a&.I scren (thh wasn't

Anoin.r vlM ol S.ndl.r'rAl.n.r.ntlne llehs on Omlnl12,

snnr dr.lig S*y L.b ttl eocond .nnrd Sty Lsbpll{Nr!26lld! ot 1973-1?,{{t rrl! Trrnr.ITIASAhoLotsl&lrA-ztrola 3tols .k rt

Li'r6d a3 nrd.nulbd obj6cror 3lrellil. by |lA6APl1olovrrua on L5b,

23


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sensational nough or ficiional "fact"writer Frek Edwards: he had turohundred people actually 6 theobject).

The source of the story seems ohave been an NBC newsman inAustralia. But the problem seems o bethat Cooper has never heard of it. Hehas been otft of the space program forseven yean, and talks freety abouiUFOS to rcporiers, to the columbia"UFO recording"., to Mike Douglas,to friends and associates. omehov heknows nothing about "his" spaccUFO-nd he has no reason to besilnt. ,!Iis space UFO never existed

Co.fronted by thh evidence,Fawcett (letter of May 10, 1976)insists hal "I sincerely elievesome fthe ashonaut sighii4gs are bonafide,based on sone of my sources orinfonnation," John Keei, loo, recalls(letier of l&rch 26, 19?6) that "exNASA engineers ave old me all kindgof fascinat ing Fo !6 les . . . " Alwaysl,hese wr ers fall back on '\ecretreporls" and "privaie informaiion"vhen ihir published eporh and openarticles disiniegraie n the fae of the

On October 18, 19?3, the famougMsnsfield, Ohio UFO sightingoccurrd, or which Capiain ,6wreneCoyne and his helicopir crew laterwere o receile the 'Best UFO Case fthe Year" award (and check) from aweekly abloid ' s 'b lue-r ibbon anel ' lUFO experts. A few months laier,Coyne said he was lold by ihe panelchairman, J. Allen Hyiek, (therspected ead of the Cenler or UFOStudies) thai Skylab astronauis hadphotographed ihe same UFO fromspace. llynek ultimaiely denied his.)A repuiable magazine, "ArmyReserve" published he story wiih anint guing photogmph t bad receivedfron NASA an? which it labeled"NASAT Skylab", clady indicatingthat this was he asironaut photognphwhich had buzzed Coyne.

Ii would have been a neat tlick forl,he Skylab asironaut s o have phoio-graphed anything on October 18th,since hey weren'i even on board thespace station. The previous crev/ hadrcturned o Earih a month bofote andtheir relief clew was nol scheduled oblast off for another hree weeks. hephotograph printed in the maguinewas cleady labeled on iis backside stake! by Scott Carpenter n Mercury-? more than ten yea6 before. Itshowed a limp balloon Carperter had

24

ejected from his spacecnft in eaitempt to get visual racking praciice(ihis photo is often referred o as the"classical domed UFO" shoi). UFOresearcher s nd nagazine ediiors hadcleady not made even a minimum ofeffort to verify ihese transparenterors and mistakes, ut instead passedon the false data to the public.Thousan.ls more werc deceived.

Late i! 1973, a sirange object didappear n Skylab space photoguphs.Taken on Conrad's skylab flight inJune, the object was not noticed byUFO researcheN ut by goverrment

Rather than tweep the UFo underthe ru9", the officials took the othertack: it might be a mysterious SovictSatellite and could be of great value o

r h e e r o n q a r e d b j e c t s a d l a r y 3 n 3 n * r i p

r n r h e B r a z i i a n j u n o l e s - E n a r s e m n i i N A s a p h o t o s L 2 1 6 1 0 9 .


22/25

' n ' l i t a r ! i ' r r e l l ig en . ( . A p h ) ! rp i an dener.pfltc iD!cs{igarion iras hunchcd.

' lh e o b jec t lo o k ed l ik e a o n gcr l rn d er 11 i th h ro sq u are tad d lesr en n n t i lg so la r p an e ts a t p ach en d .Ilt nx,asuring its angutar size on then eg ao fe . an a tJ s i s 1 ! e r e ab te tod e te .n in e th a t 1 ! $ as ab o u t 2 0 i e tlo D g a ml lc a{a \ o r 2 0 0 0 fec l lo n g ih u !d rcd mi les av a! .

A ca r r fu l i r r r r i s r ig a i io n r f ca ted ih csurprring

anrlrr ih e uFo l{asr. tu a ih th o I s ln d s o t f ce r i tr l en g rh .bul. its alti de nas Tcrot It ivls al ld r r l i ip iD lh c Braz i l j an jLr r s tcs tF ! r th e r ch ec j r i f g sh o n d rh a t lh eol)t(.ctd lpparld rt r"ircsajnc spol idS l t l l ab p h o to s ak .n n o i th s ta le i : h fa l r i l e ld N as r l so i i ) u r. t , ) f an i , r r c rr ah o D al a \ ia l io r ch ar i .

Rfce r i 1 : fO h o o k 5 aDn r i . l , , rl r r ! e , n , r i . ( r f d t h f \ 1 a , , t t i f i t n r . , ,s i s l r r i n g i f f i l r f f r r . r i ! . q , ) . I L r i sj r fpr r fn , . l Lh I N , \S r \ i t r , x d r t r r r r i f r jh i b l L C \ | l n i $ O i i . , , r ( i n , i s { r . r

t ) r ' o r r ) i r r p h r ( . f b t r t ) f t i ! r an ) f r r o 1r l r ( tp r r r ( r r l l r t r i r I r r l d f ( , l ah , ,L I1 i l ) n i l f s 0 rh o l ( ) - l t l I r t l r l

h rh l l s [ . . ] n ,p ( r t ! s l I a t i r ) 1 .1 ] r , , i r( ) r ' I r l , O ; r r r r r r i r . ( ) r ' : t 0 i t 1 l . i ) )l l i . \ l i i l l L r Lr r r r , r i r r t r r i t , r1 { i i i ra r \ l r n r l i r r i l \ r f i l l r i ) r r r . r ! l i' \ i l f i n r n L l l r o ! . / f l h ( f t , ( t l . t rq h r i L i r r r : " l i r . l ! , r " t , r i s i s r

1 ' l ' " ' , ' " . " . , , s . 0 i r b y rLx i r ! N j . r d , r \ .! ( i s1 ( )k . i r. l l rL l r , r t ) r ( 1 ,n 1 ! r. s 1 tr ! ,ksr ) l t )a i i . . l i l ) l r { o l i L t j r l ) r ( r ! h l t O rl i r \ 1 5 . r t $ a s I I . ( l i \ r ) l r r , , r j r t r j !

l , ) i . h r . i q u L d ' \ ! g r n 1 , r r t s . l j f i , r )

, l f r f l \ ( l f s . r ih f s th f f j r ( 1 s r l lL j ] r, l o s f . , : i l l , t , r n r h l i | r . r d n r i i l j n Br o n g \ f i lh r i r ! rh n l1 , ih r (n r rh r t r0

( ro j r s id e r jh ! th fn , ( j r s . s rLr I h ,v f1 l . i . r ib .d d u r ( rn d i . l l , . ( , r r. , ) r h f rl , \n , r o n ! s \ rh i . h I h rv. a l ! ) tn v. s t i .q r l r d 1 .1 )1 | cc . s s J i r l co n c lu \ io . l ,! ! l r a t . x r r $ e ) r0 $ , s i lv rb r ! r t iu lh o r !\ f h . p r r ' s e r r r , $ ch . ! id en . . o i' ' ! ! l r u r ru l Lr IO s . t l r h rLr ]p . ak i rgo m,n o u s l ) rb o u l r \A SA . . | c ru p : r id. ' s e . r e l lg e r ' o f s rh jch n ru zz t f sp ar. _h en . lh e ie san r ! r c ;ea f ch e$ is t 5 u (h

Jo h n Yo u rg r .O d d s ! r. , l t1 . .O s

Ed g ar i i . h r tLr , ' \ l r ea l t k n r r f U fO s

Eu g .n e Cer ian : . . t b e ie le I fO so f ro n g to so h reo i ie ln , !n d ih a i I jevah l ro n r so n ie o d re r c i r i l i / a r i . n , .

G o rd o n Co o p er : i b e l j f ! e r l j ! iU FO s , u n d ef in r e t ig e r l . o f r ro 1 . h ! \e

2 ;


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visiied oufplanei for thouslnds oi

None ol ihese mrn cla im o halcseen UFOS n space. By nov 1t shoul.lbe oblious i,o openrhinded invesi.iga_ios that no other asl.bnaut claims ohav seen any eithor. Suggestions iat.they have rcallY don so are eithermisconceptions, irepresenl.aliohs. rfrauds on ihe paft of UFO $titers

Yei anoiher case n poht has jusi.been gi{-q1, nd it deals with the John

26

Youbg quoiation. Young, n Seatile n19?3, said hai ihe chances vere goodthat them were nielljgeni civilizalionson othel p lanets AP, Nov. 2? ,1973) .The newsman sta{ed the ariicle wiihthe lcad. "John YouDg says hal theodds are ihai U dcniified FlyingObiects o exis t" , e len though noneof Young\ quoted ivords lndicaledihat at all- Beibre You could saY"UFO llap", the UFO wiiters had a

John Young says, Odds arc UFOS

It seeus clcar that aslrotrauts s actas ol the populaiion do noi, posessany special knowledge aboul UFOSwhich they may hate gained iromthcir own erperinces. hey arc aboutas well informed (or more huthfullv,as badly misjnformed) as ihe averagecitizen. To quote th.m as above withthe suggestion hat the,v are specialauihoriLies on UFOS s a tnislcading


24/25


25/25

Th APRO Bulleiin (Feb. 19761coniinud to generai.e ew astronauiUFO fliry tales viih ihe anonymousfevelaiion from "Mr. X", vho heardthe Apollo,11 astronauh descdbe"thre discahaped hadows hat wercpacing hem across he su ace of thmoon-" The best answer lo thisiirbdcation is in a leiter from NASAAssjstant Administrator or LegislativeAffairs Roberl F. Allnutt, toCongiesman Bob Casey, datedJaDuary 29, 1970: "Conv.sal,ionbetveen tbe Apirllo 11 crcrv andMission Oonhol were releuscd ireduing ihe enlire Apotlo 11 nissioD.There wcfe betwen 1000 and 1500representatives oi the hNS mcdiapresenl. at th Hou(on Ne$s C.nterl is iening n{t obsen ' i rg , r t not onlhas suggcsted .hat Nlsr\ ivithheld anynews or (onvlsat ioDs l th is nahue. i '

Tb{ flidenc is (lcar. l'hcre s, outof a l l 1hf doreds of "rcpor i-s oIas t ronaut UFO sight ings" , o res idueoi authentlc canl,j. no 21tt ot 't)i oleven 0.017. f " |nre UFOri" ohind l lihc ' .noise" .NIyn, scarch s compdlingin ils conclusionr flef littf.n yean olmanned pace oyages rcluding pacs tat ions and landing or thc moon,epr tcomen avr broughr ba(k not Is l r red of evid .n(c lcrbal , phot( )graphrc . of o lh . rwie - i r lhr0xis ienc( l f f x t r r l r r$ lr i r l sp . . f c t r i l .or (Ul'O$i .

Tlra i cvidoDc. , l i l . x is ts a t a t t ,musl bc soughi clnvhrc. Theperibrmancf and si,andards l conduclof t hc UFO groups nd ol t j fo wfi icrscannol be caus or opt imism hatsucb al'ldence! f it erisis, wi berecognized and corfecily .!aluaied.The lessoD f lhe "asi.ronaut UFOS',,thn, t{,acIesus norhing about U!.Os,bui a lo l . about U[ 'O invs i jgatos .

Scientisis t lvork". we fiId lhe phonyFawceti list. List has ncorcci datesand many ilightr oui of squnce. OnJuly 1, 1976, Dr. J . Al len Hynekrevieved m! vidnce nd endorsed t,and repudiated hc Fawcett ist, vhichhe rclo(ed ihat hc included 1n hhbook as a curiosiiy onlr. That is, us tbecause h! preseDted r as faci toihousrnds of rladels Nas ro reason oraDlone o corctud e thoughi i vastrue. This appal l inglr respons ib l .attitude knrards n'les ol evidenceseems o intuct he vhoLr lFO field .

;_j!.lltrgs b-y :6 ..lslr.ndxlr(ir'rirni {j,.Os Spred on 5tr'1dDs si.)lranJ Oiher.Spocc nols UFOs WatchEv.n Nlole N^SA liakes, SayAs[onauts Who Wre Tailed on SpaceShot, "Nationnl Tattlai', March 17,19?4. Thh h an embel l ish0d rs ion flbe same Fawcel,t antasies. Weeklyl,abloid neivspapr confom0d io thehighcsl standards f moden reporling.Tattler and its slalf are dedictiied o{ .o ta l , ru th lu l coverage. . . ' ) n fact ,tfaifer Robert Abborino made nooliort to chcck any of tawcortt

UFO| rasl, Prcscnl dnd FrLure. byItobdi Fimcnggcr. csearch by Alan$nd)cf . l la lhr ! i r{ , , 9r- ,1 . lhapier 5 ,' 'N . sa" . pagcs I00.106. l lx l . .ns iv.i funnr ip ls ol spr(c conl l r rn i . r l io) ls.ov. r up ihf tacl lh ir ! Sahdlcfcanr lLr l lydlo . l0d ! idcrco aDd nrus ihav{r knoiviDgl y omilled inionnal.iorwhich would have explained manycdscs. An cxcellent photo seciion is

Iilto lleport, People ?rcss, 1975."NASA lliding LIFOsFro'n You", byRobeft l). Bauy, pages -10. Bary isaso.iaiod rvilh Cail Mclntyre\lundancnrr l is i . hr ls i . ianfoup, nd soDr o t 0ro $ i ldor t iFO wri iers . lenthc mas nedi! hrs lcafnfd lodivegard ' is ic l ional doscl ip t loDs iDoD fents . leff , I ' c c \p la inJ $ lr !\ASA cal led n lhe CI . \ ro keep hesephotos secre!" . \ f j rhoui esphininghow. in that case , c got .opies . leuses the lofged Gomini 7 photo

FUnq Saucets t . rc ond Na ' , ! ,brFrank Edwards. Lyle Stuari, NoivYork. 1967. Astrolaut laniasicsrvholly or in par! cnaied in the fe4ile(and unlimited by reality) mind of'newsha!' Frank ldlvards are foundon pages 3, 180. and 197. Throughsuch entries a journalism siudeni cantrace the actual growih of ihe myth.

APRO BuUetin, Nlarch-April 1970

and February 19?6 and o thers. Thisllying saucer club newslttr besttypifies the disregard for impartialinrestigaiion of evidence ivhichproridcd the climai,e in which themyth of "astronaui UFOS" could grow

?&e Stdr, March 2, 19?6. page 7.Squenc of headlines: On ihe fron!pagr, "Astronauls Sa]: We Saw UFOSin Space". On page 7. "'fopAstroDairts Confirnr ile spotted twoUFOS". /n /ie orllcl, I'lcDiliti ialksoi his UFO, an d Coopr discuses h' slxpcrierccs {s a lighter piloi inGrmanv ard makes nr mcntion ofihe spac Ut'O a$ociated ivith hi sname. The headlines, as can bexpected in such a n.wspaper, arcdel iberate ly is leading.

SAGA agazine, Nlay 1970:Cldssifie.l I'AP SECllllT ApolloAsh-onauLs Repotlati Tuo UFOS.g/rftrgs, y Bckley and Satkin, p. 13ff. Compl0te tory of -qpollo.12 UFOS,plus enough false iiformai.ion io''ditcredit" lhe tru0 explanation.Quol.cs "$pa( expori CaryIIende|son", anothr acii!'c spreaderof lh0 myth. Rcfn to long discreditedslodcs of "secret d.ad Russiancosmonauis" probably created byFrank Edvards .

Hous l l ) r ,os t , No! .30, 1975, pagel l l : "Jus t Onc Asrronaut ClaimsSeeing Ul-O ' , by J im N' la loncy. hiss lDs ible and sane i rves i igat ion(McDivi t is iuck io h is s tory) cleadydid not excite he national nows mdiaand rvas clegated o ihe obscufiiv of a

Scince nd ,rlrecna,rics, une 1969.Coler Siory: "This UFO ivaspholographed y as irohaul iordonon0emnii 11 f l ight" ( ihe covor photoshoivs trmerdously cnlrrged oui otfo.us iinage oi a piecc of insulationfloating a f.v inches n front of thecame!a) . agf 44. Lloyd Mallan: A reUFO Space Crews Spying on ourAstronauts?" Desciption of the lateL. Mallant in terviews n cenini-11,provides sohe Derv inlormation buicements sohe old nisconcepiions.Aho mbellkhes Condon Repori

Lockheed.NASA Contract NAS9-51S1 (March 19?0) , "TechnicalReport: Unidentiiied Visuallhenonena Associatcd wiih SpaceFlighi", F. Beatiy and J. Bamn.Discu$es the fragmerl.s seen ab{lphoiogaaphed on Apollo-12. andhaces lhem to spacecralt effech.

scientific Stud! of lltli.t.nlifie.lFl!inq Objects (can.tan tiepo'l),Bantam Edit ion , 1969. Chapter 6:Visual Observations Made brrAstronaul.s/!rankl1n E. Roach. pag0s176.209, lviih bibliography ihrough196?. Cood bdckground marerialincluding npubl ished al id solut ionsio a number oi cascs, IncorrectsolulioD to cnini XIInadequate analysis and unjustifiedendoBement of Gemini V case.

l he E.Jge f Realit!,,by Hynk andValle. H.nry Regnery & Co., 19?5.Pagc 63.6 ,1 n a seci ion al led . .The

astronauts & ufo, the whole story

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