The Astronauts and the Unknown: 5 NASA Legends Who Witnessed UFOs
They are NASA's legends: James McDivitt, Gordon Cooper, the Apollo 11 crew, Story Musgrave, and Edgar Mitchell.
They are the best of the best, individuals selected for their sharp minds, cool nerves, and unparalleled skills as pilots and scientists. NASA astronauts are trained to observe, analyze, and report with absolute precision. But what happens when they encounter something that defies all training and conventional explanation?
For decades, stories have circulated of astronauts witnessing unidentified flying objects in the cold, silent void of space. These are not blurry backyard photos; they are accounts from some of the most qualified observers humanity has ever produced. From the pioneering days of the Mercury program to the iconic Apollo moonshots and the workhorse Space Shuttle era, a pattern of unexplained encounters emerges, told by decorated heroes
who, in some cases, risked their careers to share what they saw.
James McDivitt: The Commander and the 'Cigar'
In June 1965, during the historic Gemini 4 mission, Commander James McDivitt was a man with impeccable credibility. On the second day of his flight, he saw something that did not belong: a white, cylindrical object with a long, thin projection sticking out of its side. In the featureless black of space, judging its size and distance was impossible.
McDivitt did what he was trained to do. He grabbed his cameras and reported it to Mission Control, describing the object as it moved on a parallel course before vanishing. The resulting film, however, was frustratingly inconclusive. Official explanations, including from the Condon Committee, concluded he had simply seen the second stage of his own Titan II rocket. McDivitt, a decorated test pilot and engineer, was adamant. He knew what his rocket looked like, and this was not it. He never claimed it was alien, but with unwavering consistency, he stood by his story: it was an Unidentified Flying Object.
Gordon Cooper: The Pioneer Who Spoke Out
Leroy "Gordo" Cooper was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, but his encounters began long before he reached orbit. In 1951, as an Air Force pilot over West Germany, he witnessed large groups of metallic, saucer-shaped objects flying in precise formations at speeds and altitudes no known aircraft could achieve.
His most dramatic encounter happened on the ground. In 1957, at Edwards Air Force Base, Cooper and a camera crew watched as a silent, silvery saucer descended, extended three landing legs, and settled onto the dry lakebed. The professional film crew captured the entire event. Cooper, as the ranking officer, secured the film and sent it to the Pentagon. He was told it was a matter of extreme national security and never saw it again.
Finally, in space in 1963, Cooper saw a greenish glowing object approaching his Mercury capsule. The sighting was confirmed by the Muchea tracking station in Australia, which picked it up on radar. After retiring, Cooper became a vocal advocate for disclosure, even writing to the United Nations in 1978 to state his belief that Earth was being visited by extraterrestrial crews.
The Apollo 11 Crew: A Secret on the Way to the Moon
During the most famous journey in human history, the crew of Apollo 11—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins—saw something pacing their spacecraft. Through the window of the command module, they observed a point of light that appeared L-shaped and flashed rhythmically.
Reacting with calm, methodical analysis, the crew knew any mention of a "UFO" would create a global firestorm. They quietly asked Mission Control for the location of their discarded S-IVB rocket stage. Houston reported it was over 6,000 miles away. This was not their rocket. The object remained a mystery, and the story was largely kept under wraps for decades. Aldrin later speculated it could have been one of the panels that flew off during the lunar module extraction, but for the men on that historic flight, it remains a profound and unexplained moment.
Story Musgrave: The Serpentine Object in Orbit
Dr. Franklin Story Musgrave, an astronaut with six graduate degrees who flew on six separate Space Shuttle missions, is one of the most accomplished people ever to leave the planet. With more cumulative time in orbit, he had more opportunities to observe. On at least two missions, he saw something he still cannot explain: a long, serpentine object.
He described it as being like an eel or a snake, white in color, and moving with its own agency, not just tumbling end-over-end like space debris. As a surgeon and scientist, he was precise in his description, noting it had a "rubbery" and "wiggling" appearance. Dr. Musgrave is convinced that life exists elsewhere, and he places the "eel" in a personal category of deep, unresolved mysteries he encountered in orbit.
Edgar Mitchell: The Apollo Pilot Who Demanded Disclosure
Dr. Edgar Mitchell, the lunar module pilot for Apollo 14 and the sixth man to walk on the moon, was perhaps the most outspoken astronaut of all.
He claimed unequivocally that we are not alone and that the truth has been covered up for decades. During his own mission, he and his crewmates observed flashing lights pacing their craft on several occasions.
But it was his journey home that changed him forever. Experiencing a profound cognitive shift he called a "universal connection," his purely scientific worldview was shattered. After retiring, he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences and began to speak out. Citing credible sources within the military-industrial complex, Mitchell claimed the 1947 Roswell incident was real, that an extraterrestrial craft crashed, and that non-human bodies were recovered. He argued that a deeply entrenched, compartmentalized group operating outside of legal government oversight has been reverse-engineering the technology ever since, keeping it hidden from the world and even from presidents. Until his death in 2016, Dr. Mitchell remained a monumental figure in the push for government disclosure.
From quiet, factual reports to bold public declarations, the testimony of these five men forms a compelling chapter in the UFO story—one that is difficult to dismiss. They were trained to see what was there, and they saw something that shouldn't have been.
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