UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

Fife Symington, Republican Governor of Arizona

Date of sighting: March 13, 1997

Location of sighting: Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Ten years after the Arizona UFO incident known as the 'Phoenix Lights', former Arizona Republican Governor Fife Symington, III, now says that he himself was a witness to one of the strange unidentified flying objects. "I witnessed a massive delta-shaped craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak.."

On March 13, 1997, one of the most massively witnessed UFO sightings occurred in the skies over and around Phoenix, Arizona. Witnessed by thousands of people and photographed by hundreds, there is no doubt that something was seen over the skies of Phoenix that night. The question remains - what did they see?

The strange lights were sighted during a three hour period between 7:30pm and 10:30pm on March 13. They covered a 300 mile corridor from the Nevada line through Phoenix to the Northern edge of Tucson. Since thousands of witnesses called local Air Force bases, news stations, and UFO organizations with their reports, we are able to glean the exact route that the mysterious object took.

Dennis Kucinich, US Congressman & Presidential canidate.

Sighting Location: Graham, Washington, USA

Sighting Date: September 1982

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, October 22, 2007 :

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has seen a UFO, writes Shirley MacLaine in her new book, "Sage-Ing While Age-Ing."

Kucinich, she writes on page143-144 of the book, "had a close sighting over my home in Graham, Washington, when I lived there. Dennis found his encounter extremely moving. The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for ten minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind."

During a Democratic Presidential debate in October, 2007 in Philadelphia, Tim Russert of NBC News asked Kucinich if he saw a UFO. "This is a serious question," Russert said before asking the question. The Chicago Tribune quotes the candidate's reply:

"I did," Kucinich said.

"And the rest of the account -- I didn't -- I -- it was unidentified flying object, okay. It's like -- it's unidentified. I saw something.

"Now, to answer your question," Kucinich said, "I'm moving my -- and I'm also going to move my campaign office to Roswell, New Mexico and another one, an extra, to New Hampshire, okay... And also, you have to keep in mind that more -- that Jimmy Carter saw a UFO, and also that more people in this country have seen UFOs than, I think, approve of George Bush's presidency."

Reinhold Messner, famous mountain climber from Italy.

Date of sighting: 1981

Location of sighting: Katmandu, Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal — Italian Reinhold Messner, one of the world's foremost mountaineers, said Friday he watched a UFO "the size of a full moon" for nearly three hours while climbing in the Himalayas.

On his return to Katmandu after an unsuccessful attempt on 24,248-foot Mount Chamlang, he said he spotted the UFO as it drifted south into Nepal from Tibet over the mighty snowcapped mountains.

"It was moving very slowly," he said. "It moved eastward and then went again southwest and drifted finally north into Tibet." His climbing partner Doug Scott, a British schoolteacher, also sighted the object, he said, as did a nearby joint Polish-British expedition, but at a different time.

"It could not be a satellite because they move in an eliptical manner." he said. "The movements of this object were irregular."

John Lennon.

Sighting Date: August 23, 1974

Sighting Location: New York City, New York, USA

August 23, 1974 - John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in NYC. Lennon's sighting occurred when he was with his personal secretary, May Pang, in New York, at the time when he and Yoko Ono were separated. He refers to the experience on the cover of his album "Walls And Bridges", which was released in 1974, saying that he saw a UFO. May Pang reports in her book, "Loving John"....

"We had just ordered up some pizzas and since it was such a warm evening, we decided to step out on the terrace," recalled Pang. "There were no windows directly facing us from across the street, so John just stepped outside with nothing on, in order to catch a cool breeze that was coming in right off the East River. I remember I was just inside the bedroom getting dressed when John started shouting for me to come out on the terrace.

I yelled back that I would be right there but he kept screaming for me to join him in that instant. As I walked out onto the terrace, my eye caught this large, circular object coming towards us. It was shaped like a flattened cone and on top was a large, brilliant red light, not pulsating as on any of the aircraft we'd see heading for a landing at Newark Airport. When it came a little closer, we could make out a row or circle of white lights that ran around the entire rim of the craft - these were also flashing on and off. There were so many of these lights that it was dazzling to the mind. It was, I estimate, about the size of a Lear jet and it was so close that if we had something to throw at it, we probably would have hit it quite easily."

Eerily the object passed by.

"We often had helicopters flying above us but this was as silent as the night and about seventeen storeys above street level." The object flew off but returned later, by which time she and Lennon had set up a telescope through which they could view it in more detail. "The light was so brilliant coming from the craft that no additional details could be seen. We did take a couple of pictures but they turned out overexposed." They also rang a local newspaper to report the sighting and were told at least seven other people had seen the UFO too.

"We even called the police, that's how excited we were, and they told us to keep calm, that others had seen it too." During what was left of the evening, John kept saying, "I can't believe it... I can't believe it... I've seen a flying saucer!"

Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok, Russian Cosmonaut

Date of sighting: May 5, 1981

Location of sighting: Orbiting Earth

Below is his drawing of the UFO he saw.

Many cosmonauts have seen phenomena which are far beyond the experiences of earthmen. For ten years I never spoke on such things. The encounter you asked me about happened on May 5, 1981, at about 6 PM, during the Saljut Mission. At that time we were over the area of South Africa, moving towards the area of the Indian ocean. I just made some gymnastic exercises, when I saw in front of me, through a porthole, an object which I could not explain. It is impossible to determine distances in Space. A small object can appear large and far away and the other way around. Sometimes a cloud of dust appears like a large object. Anyway, I saw this object and then something happened I could not explain, something impossible according to the laws of Physics. The object had this shape, elliptical, and flew with us. From a frontal view it looked like it would rotate in flight direction.

It only flew straight, but then a kind of explosion happened, very beautiful to watch, of golden light. This was the first part. Then, one or two seconds later, a second explosion followed somewhere else and two spheres appeared, golden and very beautiful.

After this explosion I just saw white smoke, then a cloud-like sphere. Before we entered the darkness, we flew through the terminator, the twilight-zone between day and night. We flew eastwards, and when we entered the darkness of the Earth shadow, I could not see them any longer. The two spheres never returned.

Victor Afanasyev, Soviet Cosmonaut

Date of sighting: April 1979

Location of sighting: Earth orbit, enroute to Soviet Solyut 6 Space Station

Below photo is the drawing Victor Afanasyev made of the UFO he saw.

In April of 1979, Cosmonaut Victor Afanasyev lifted off from Star City to dock with the Soviet Solyut 6 space station. But while en route, something strange happened. Cosmonaut Afanasyev saw an unidentified object turn toward his craft and begin tailing it through space.

"It followed us during half of our orbit. We observed it on the light side, and when we entered the shadow side, it disappeared completely. It was an engineering structure, made from some type of metal, approximately 40 meters long with inner hulls. The object was narrow here and wider here, and inside there were openings. Some places had projections like small wings. The object stayed very close to us. We photographed it, and our photos showed it to be 23 to 28 meters away."

In addition to photographing the UFO, Afanasyev continually reported back to Mission Control about the craft's size, its shape and position. When the cosmonaut returned to earth he was debriefed and told never to reveal what he knew, and had his cameras and film confiscated.

Those photos and his voice transmissions from space have never been released.

It is only now, with the collapse of the Soviet Union that Afanasyev feels that he can safely tell his story.

"It is still classified as a UFO because we have yet to identify the object."

James McDivitt, NASA Astronaut, Gemini 4

Date of sighting: June 1965

Location of sighting: Orbiting Earth

In June 1965, Major James McDivitt saw, filmed, and photographed an object, which approached the Gemini IV (3rd June – 7th June 1965) capsule in which they were orbiting the Earth, passing over Hawaii. The UFO had a long arm sticking out of it.

Here is what Major James McDivitt repeated many times:

"I was flying with Ed White. He was sleeping at the time so I don't have anybody to verify my story. We were drifting in space with the control engines shut down and all the instrumentation off (when) suddenly (an object) appeared in the window. It had a very definite shape - a cylindrical object - it was white - it had a long arm that stuck out on the side. I don't know whether it was a very small object up close or a very large object a long ways away. There was nothing to judge by. I really don't know how big it was. We had two cameras that were just floating in the spacecraft at the time, so I grabbed one and took a picture of (the object) and grabbed the other and took a picture. Then I turned on the rocket control systems because I was afraid we might hit it. At the time we were drifting - without checking I have no idea which way we were going - but as we drifted up a little farther the sun shone on the window of the spacecraft. The windshield was dirty - just like in an automobile, you can't see through it. So I had the rocket control engines going again and moved the spacecraft so that the window was in darkness again - the object was gone. I called down later and told them what had happened and they went back and checked their records of other space debris that was flying around but we were never able to identify what it could have been. The film was sent back to NASA and reviewed by some NASA film technicians. One of them selected what he thought was what we talked about, at least before I had a chance to review it. It was not the picture - it was a picture of a sun reflection on the window."

Buzz Aldrin, NASA Astronaut

Date of sighting: July 18, 1969

Location of sighting: Moon

Buzz stated this in an interview:

Buzz Aldrin: There was something out there that, uh, was close enough to be observed and what could it be?

Narrator: Traveling along side of Apollo 11 was a mysterious object like this one (a ringed object at close range is shown), filmed on a later mission. If it wasn't part of their own rocket, it could only be one thing, a UFO.

Aldrin: Mike (Collins) decided he thought he could see it in the telescope and he was able to do that and when it was in one position, that had a series of ellipses, but when you made it real sharp it was sort of L shaped. That didn't tell us very much.

Dr. David Baker (Apollo 11 Senior Scientist): NASA knew very little about, um, the object reported by the Apollo 11 crew. It was obviously an unidentified flying object, but such objects were not uncommon and the history of even earth orbit space flights going back over the previous years indicated that several crews saw objects.

Narrator: Despite having a clear view of the UFO, the crew were wary of reporting it to Mission Control.

Aldrin: Now, obviously, the three of us were not going to blurt out, 'Hey Houston we got something moving along side of us and we don't know what it is, you know, can you tell us what it is?'. We weren't about to do that, cause we know that those transmissions would be heard by all sorts of people and who knows what somebody would have demanded that we turn back because of Aliens or whatever the reason is, so we didn't do that but we did decide we'd just cautiously ask Houston where, how far away was the S-IVB?

Narrator: Unaware of the drama unfolding in space, Mission Control radioed the position back to Apollo 11.

Mission Control: 'Apollo 11, Houston. The S-IVB is about 6,000 nautical miles from you now, over.'

Aldrin: And a few moments later, why they came back and said something like it was 6,000 miles away because of the maneuver, so we really didn't think we were looking at something that far away, so we decided that after a while of watching it, it was time to go to sleep and not to talk about it anymore until we came back and (went through) debriefing.

Narrator: To this day, whatever it was that the crew saw has never been positively identified or officially acknowledged.

Gordon Cooper, NASA Astronaut.

Date of sighting: 1957

Location of sighting: Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

In 1957, Cooper was one of an elite band of test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base in California, in charge of 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!

"These guys were all pro cameramen, so the picture quality was very good.

"The camera crew managed to get within 20 or 30 yards of it, filming all the time. It was a classic saucer, shiny silver and smooth, about 30 feet across. It was pretty clear it was an alien craft.

"As they approached closer it took off."

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.

"He didn't say anything about me not looking at the film. That's what I did when it came back from the lab and it was all there just like the camera crew reported."

When the Air Force later started Operation Blue Book to collate UFO evidence and reports, Cooper says he mentioned the film evidence.

"But the film was never found supposedly. Blue Book was strictly a cover-up anyway."

Cooper revealed he's convinced an alien craft crashed at Roswell, N. Mex., in 1947 and aliens were discovered in the wreckage.

"I had a good friend at Roswell, a fellow officer. He had to be careful about what he said. But it sure wasn't a weather balloon, like the Air Force cover story. He made it clear to me what crashed was a craft of alien origin, and members of the crew were recovered."

Why has the government kept its UFO secrets for so many years?

"It started in World War 2, when the government didn't want people to know about UFO reports in case they panicked," said Cooper. "They would have been fearful it was superior enemy technology that we had no defense against.

"Then it got worse in the Cold War for the same reason.

"So they told one untruth, they had to tell another to cover that one, then another, then another . . . it just snowballed.

"And right now I'm convinced a lot of very embarrassed government officials are sitting there in Washington trying to figure a way to bring the truth out. They know it's got to come out one day, and I'm sure it will.

"America has a right to know!"

Richard Russell, US Senator.

Date of sighting: October 13, 1955

Location of sighting: Russian Federation

One of the most powerful U.S. senators in modern history actually eye-witnessed two UFO’s while on a fact-finding trip through Russia in 1955, and the U.S. government kept the sightings a secret for more than three decades. The incredible encounter is detailed in 12 TOP SECRET CIA, FBI, and Air Force reports, and declassified in 1985. Those startling reports reveal that Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D-GA), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was on a Soviet train when he spotted a disc-shaped craft taking off near the tracks. He hurriedly called his military aide and interpreter to the window and they saw the UFO, plus another one that appeared a minute later. The astonished trio reported the sightings to the U.S. Air Force as soon as they were out of Russia.

The Air Force Intelligence report says Russell and his two traveling companions spotted the UFOs on October 4, 1955, while traveling by rail across Russia’s Transcaucasus region. "One disc ascended almost vertically, at a relatively slow speed, with its outer surface revolving slowly to the right, to an altitude of about 6000 feet, where its speed then increased sharply as it headed north," the report states. "The second flying disc was seen performing the same actions about one minute later. The take-off area was about 1-2 miles south of the rail line."

Walter Cronkite. CBS News anchor.

Date of sighting: 1950

Location of sighting: South Pacific

In the 1950s Cronkite was part of a pool of News Reporters brought out to a small South Pacific island to watch the test of a new Air Force missile. After a short inspection of the new system by the reporters, they were lead to an area that was a safe distance from the launch site. The missile was mounted on a specially-built launcher that was attached to a cement base. It was obvious that the area had been quickly built just for the test. The details about the missile were going to be given to the reporters in he form of hand-out sheets and press releases after the test.

Cronkite mentioned that he and the other reporters had been warned that photography of the missile test and any audio transmissions or recordings by the press were forbidden. They would have to give a written account of the event. Just as the test was ready to proceed, everyone was writing as fast as they could. As Air Force Security personnel walked around the perimeter of the test area with guard dogs and the news reporters watched, the missile was fired-up and about to be released. Just then, a large disc-type UFO appeared on the scene.

Cronkite guessed that the object was about 50-60 feet in diameter, a dull grey color and had no visible means of propulsion. Because the noise of activity around him and the missile engine was so loud, he couldn't tell whether the disc made any noise. He did not notice any coming directly from the object.

As Air Force guards ran toward the UFO with their dogs, the disc hovered about 30 feet off of the ground. It suddenly sent out a blue beam of light which struck the missile, a guard and a dog all at the same time. The missile was frozen in mid-air about 70 feet from the launcher as it had taken off. A guard was frozen in mid-step and a dog frozen in mid-air as it had jumped at the disc. Cronkite reminded me that this all happened within the space of about five minutes or less.

Suddenly, the missile exploded! After that, the disc vanished. The guard and dog looked alright, but were quickly taken away by medical personnel always present at tests in case anyone became injured. At the same time, guards rapidly ushered the reporters into a concrete observation bunker. After about thirty minutes of sitting in that hot box, they were brought out into the air again and addressed by an Air Force Colonel.

The officer told them, "It was all part of the test." Obviously making it up as he went along, the Colonel said that the event was "staged" to test media reaction to UFOs. He reinforced the usual line to the reporters that Flying Saucers were probably not extra-terrestrial, but what people were actually seeing was secret planes being tested by the Air Force. This test was designed to show the media how "shocking" it could be to suddenly view a new technology. Well, Cronkite was certain that what he viewed was a new technology, but he was also sure it was not an Earthly one! He didn't believe the Air Force explanation then, and he still didn't believe it at the time when he told me the story.

After the event, reporters were told that since it was a test of media reaction to new technology, they could not report on it! But, they would be compensated later with exclusive stories on new Air Force projects (a promise that was never kept). Being as private as he was, Cronkite never did share with me his own beliefs about UFOs beyond the story he told me. I was so happy to have heard the story that I was afraid to ask anything further!

Clyde Tombaugh, Astronomer who discovered Pluto.

Date of sighting: August 20, 1949

Location of sighting: Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA

Tombaugh was probably the preeminent astronomer to have reported seeing Unidentified Flying Objects. On August 20, 1949, Tombaugh saw several UFOs near Las Cruces, New Mexico. He described them as six to eight rectangular lights, stating "I doubt that the phenomenon was any terrestrial reflection, because... nothing of the kind has ever appeared before or since... I was so unprepared for such a strange sight that I was really petrified with astonishment." A similar shocked response has been reported by many other who claim to have seen mysterious aerial objects.

Tombaugh was also later to report having seen three of the mysterious Green Fireballs, which suddenly appeared over New Mexico in late 1948 and continued at least through the early 1950s. In 1956 Tombaugh had the following to say about his various sightings:

"I have seen three objects in the last seven years which defied any explanation of known phenomenon, such as Venus, atmospheric optic, meteors or planes. I am a professional, highly skilled, professional astronomer. In addition I have seen three green fireballs which were unusual in behavior from normal green fireballs...I think that several reputable scientists are being unscientific in refusing to entertain the possibility of extraterrestrial origin and nature."

Christopher

Columbus UFO sighting.

Date of sighting: October 11, 1492

Location of sighting: Atlantic Ocean

Even Christopher Columbus, it appears, saw a UFO. While patrolling the deck of the Santa Maria at about 10:00 PM on October 11, 1492, Columbus thought he saw "a light glimmering at a great distance." He hurriedly summoned Pedro Gutierrez, "a gentleman of the king's bedchamber," who also saw the light. After a short time it vanished, only to reappear several times during the night, each time dancing up and down "in sudden and passig gleams." The light, first seen four hours before land was sighted, was never explained."

Edmund Halley, discoverer of Halley's Comet sees UFO.

Date of sighting: March 1676

Location of sighting: United Kingdom

Edmund Halley, the astronomer who discovered Halley's comet, could recall two accounts involving unidentified crafts. His first experience was in March of 1676, when he saw a, as he said, "Vast body apparently bigger than the moon." He estimated it at 40 mi. above him. He also stated that it made a noise, "Like the rattling of a great cart over stones." After estimating the distance it traveled in a matter of minutes, he came to the conclusion that it moved at a speed greater than 9,600 m.p.h.

Alexander the Great records two great "flying shields."
Date of sighting: 329 BC
Location of sighting: Central Asia

Alexander the Great records two great silver shields, spitting fire around the rims in the sky that dived repeatedly at his army as they were attempting a river crossing. The action so panicked his elephants, horses, and men they had to abandon the river crossing until the following day.

Alexander the Great was not the first to see them nor was he the
first to find them troublesome. He tells of two strange craft
that dived repeatedly at his army until the war elephants, the
men, and the horses all panicked and refused to cross the river
where the incident occurred. What did the things look like? His
historian describes them as "great shining silvery shields,
spitting fire around the rims... things that came from the skies and returned to the skies."

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Cargo Spaceship Crash and Pluto's Heavy Heart: The Week's Top Space Stories — **The left "lobe" of Pluto's heart-shaped feature is a 600-mile-wide (1,000 kilometers) ice plain known as Sputnik Planitia.**
**Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI**

A Russian cargo vessel crashed shortly after launching toward the International Space Station, and astronomers came up with a new hypothesis about Pluto's iconic heart. Here are the most interesting things that happened in the universe this week.

Russian cargo ship crashes and burns

An uncrewed Russian cargo spacecraft fell back to Earth shortly after launching toward the International Space Station on Thursday (Dec. 1). Despite the failure, there's no danger that the six astronauts aboard the orbiting lab will run out of supplies, NASA officials said. [Full Story: Russian Space Cargo Ship Destroyed in Failed Launch, Debris Burns Up]

Buzz Aldrin evacuated from South Pole

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin was medically evacuated from the South Pole and flown to New Zealand, where he is recovering. Aldrin has fluid in his lungs, "but is responding well to antibiotics," the tour operator that organized his trip said. [Full Story: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 'Good Spirits' After Evacuation From South Pole]

A new hypothesis about Pluto's heart

The huge icy plain on Pluto known as Sputnik Planitia may not overlie an impact crater, as many researchers had assumed, a new study reports. [Full Story: Pluto's Heavy Heart Shaped Dwarf Planet's Landscape]

LIGO searching for gravitational waves again

The LIGO experiment, which made the first direct detection of gravitational waves, is once again on the hunt for these ripples in the fabric of space-time. [Full Story: Gravitational-Wave Detector Resumes Hunt for Space-Time Ripples]

Studying a tiny asteroid

Astronomers have set a new record, taking the measure of an asteroid just 6 feet (2 meters) wide. [Full Story: 6-Foot-Wide 'Bald' Asteroid Is Smallest Ever Studied]

December skywatching: Spotting planets

Where are the bright naked-eye planets this month, and when are the best times to view them? Here's how to spot Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. [Full Story: The Brightest Planets in December's Night Sky: How to See them (and When)]

Farewell, Alpha Centauri

"Alpha Centauri" is getting the boot — the longstanding star name has been displaced by its ancient counterpart in a new International Astronomical Union catalog that designates 227 official names for different stars in the sky. [Full Story: Alpha Centauri Gets a New Moniker as 227 Star Names Are Clarified]

Tracking the shadow of a possibly Earth-like exoplanet

A potentially Earthlike planet circles a bright star 150 light-years away, casting a shadow tracked from space — and now from Earth, too. [Full Story: Potentially Habitable Planet's Shadow Spotted from Earth]

Another private moon-race team reserves a rocket ride

A Berlin-based group of rocket scientists and engineers are aiming to land a pair of privately funded Audi-branded robotic rovers on the moon and drive them to inspect NASA's Apollo 17 lunar roving vehicle. [Full Story: Moon-Race Team Reserves Rocket to Land Rovers Near Apollo 17 Site]

ExoMars orbiter beams back first high-res photos

Behold! The European Space Agency's new Mars orbiter just sent back its first high-resolution images of the Red Planet, and the view is amazing. [Full Story: Lookin' Good, Mars! ExoMars' First High-Res Photos Are Incredible]

Neutron star yields glimpse of weird quantum phenomenon

A strange quantum phenomenon predicted more than 80 years ago finally may have been observed in nature, thanks to a neutron star. [Full Story: Neutron Star May Reveal First Evidence of 80-Year-Old Quantum Prediction]

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