USG-UAP-D001 — Congressional, White House, UFO-related Constituent Correspondence, 1998

TL;DR

Closed June 24 1998, just before anyone could schedule a UFO‑watching committee.

• USG-UAP-D001: White House & Congress correspondence, 1998, United States
• Answers to constituent UFO queries; NASA has no UFO program, sightings mostly debris
• No official conclusion in the file

AI summary

This document is an internal government record from 1998 detailing correspondence related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs). It was authored by the Senate and sent to the Office of Legislative Affairs. The document discusses a letter from Senator Grassley requesting information about UFO sightings by astronauts. It notes that most sightings were later identified as debris or natural phenomena and that NASA has no program for investigating UFOs. The document also references a research article by James Oberg on the topic and includes a NASA fact sheet. The record was closed on June 24, 1998.

Full text

Page 2

Headquarters Action Tracking System (HATS)
INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE ACTION
ID Number: L11998-00407
.

Title: WARD/Sen Snowe fwds ltr from
U.F.O. and the recent Mars photo
Recipient:

UHeffernan

Author:
Organization:

SNOWE
SENATE

(b) (6)

who's interested in

Date Written :
Date Received:
Date Concurred:
Date Submitted:
Date Signed:
Date Closed:
>>Current Due Date:
Original Due Date:

Action Office:

UWard:S

Status:

Closed

Signature Office:

UHeffernan

Info offices:

UHeffernan, UHeninger, L/Kerwin

05/18/1998
05/26/1998

06/24/1998
06/24/1998
06/18/1998<<

Abstract:
OF STOCKINGTON, MAINE, WHO'S
SEN SNOWE FWDS LTR FROM (b) (6)
INTE:RESTED IN U.FO.'S AND THE RECENT PHOTOS OF MARS WHICH WERE RECENTLY RELEASED.
Comments:

Enclosures:

NO

Related Records:

Keywords: (b) (5)
File Plan: 1320.4

06/24/1998

MAINE U.F.O. MARS
Analyst: BMoore
Page 1 of 1

Page 3

Headquarters Action T racking System (HATS)
INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE ACTION
ID Number: L/1998-00729

Title: Rothman/UFO_Sightings by Astronauts
Recipient:

UHeffernan

Author:
Organization:

Grassley
Senate

Action Office:

LD/Rothman:P

Status:

Closed

Signature Office:

UHeffernan

Info Offices:

UHeffernan, UHeninger, UKerwin

Date Written:
Date Received:
Date Concurred:
Date Submitted:
Date Signed:
Date Closed:
>> Current Due Date:
Original Due Date:

08/03/1998
08/31/1998

09/04/1998
09/10/1998
08/22/1998<<
08/22/1998

Abstract:
Senator Grassley forwards letter from (ts) (S)
who is requesting information on UFO sightings by
Astronauts.
-Comments:

Enclosures:

letter

Related Records:

Keywords: (6J (o) UFO,astronauts,sightings
File Plan: 1320.4
09/10/1998

Analyst: JMassey
Page 1 of 1

Page 4

yeA toGU
SEP - 4 1998

L:HR:mtg:L/1998-729f

The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
United States Senate
Washington, DC 2051 0

Dear Senator Grassley:
who
Thank you for your letter of August 3, 1998, on behalf of(b <5)
is requesting informat ion about the possible sightings of Unidentified Flying
Objects (U FOs) by NASA astronauts.
Over the years there have been many objects sighted by the astronauts during
space missions. Most of these items were later identified by photographs or
NORAD records as material from launch vehicles or spacecraft or were such
items as water droplets. No unidentified materials were seen on missions to the
moon. The Air Force, in the interest of national security, received and
investigated all reports for many years but has discontinued this activity. NASA
has no program for investigating UFOs and has not withheld information on
sightings.
In 1976, James Oberg thoroughly researched the UFO/astronaut allegations and
published an article about it in SEARCH magazine. We are enclosing that
article for (b) (6 )
)nformation. In addition, enclosed is a NASA Fact Sheet
which summarizes the current status of NASA's involvement in UFO
investigations.
We trust this information wi ll aid you in responding to(b) 6 )
Sincere ly,

Edward Heffernan
Associate Administrator
for Legislative Affairs
Enclosures

---

inquiry.

Page 6

S,ncc tho ··auron.iut UFO" genre

is one of rhe m13in pillolrs o f VFO

Story!

ovidcr1ce. thi5 study c lafml n g ! hat
the enti re set of C .)Scs i1 inv.,..l id
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UFO buffs. Aation~I objections
and arguments wiH bo printed and
answered in a subseQuent is'5ue of
this magazina. Critics are urged to
raise specific points not address°'d
in tho study. or to cite and
docum.ant facts which might
modify or invalidate conclusions
in the study.

SGM{ q ~ f'\~9 ~\?-j ,1{
James E. Oberg
Associate Editor
" Space World" magazine

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f\l''\1-\~ f\<;T.) l-Ji ~c... S~Y OG
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Space flight has opened many mysteries. True, scie11tists prefer to list tlie
puzzles solved and u11knoums discovered, but as men venture beyond the
earth it is inevitable that new mysteries will be encountered.
Somewhere out there, many obsen:ers believe, are intelligent species with
technological civilizations · far more advanced tha,z that of Earth. Perhaps
they are sending us radio signals we have not recognized. Perhaps they have
left artifacts of past visits for us to find. Perhaps they are even_ now keeping
the earth under surveillance.
If they are out there, someday we will meet them. As illustrated in science
fiction, this meeting will probably occur in space.
Have such meetings already occurred? Have astronauts and cosmonauts
already seen alien spacecraft? The UFO lite!ature is full of tales of "space
UFOs". Are any ofthem valid? What can a careful study reveal?

H

ardly a UFO book or movie is
complete without the standard
assertion that "astronauts have seen
UFOs too". While critics may attack
the character or intelligence of many
UFO witnesses, they cannot use these
tactics on American and Russian space
pilots. Where UFO photographs can be
accused of distortion and forgery,
photographs taken by astronauts and
processed by NASA must be of the
highest trustworthiness. Hence, most
UFO scholars consider the family of
astronaut UFO sightings to be one of
the strongest bodi~s of evidence in the
past thirty years.
The best of these cases include
astronaut James McOivitt's sighting of
o( an "unidentified spacecraft" near
his Gemini-4 space capsule in 1965, a
curious photo of a pair of UFOs with
glowing propulsion fields taken by the
Gemini-7 astronauts. reports of nearby
objects from X-15 and Mercury
spacecraft. tales of how ~he 1968-1969
Apollo moon shots were followed by
U.FOs on their way to the moon, and
reports and pbutographs of objects
seen by crewmen on the Skylab space
station. Last year, the National Inves-

tigations
Committee
on A erial
Phenomena (NICAP) selected the
"McDivitt UFO" photo as one of the
four best photographs ever taken.
The "astronaut UFO" sightings
must
appeal to many seriou:i
researchers for a number of reasons.
The witnesses and the photographs are
unimpeachable as to honesty and
authenticity. The conditions of the
space missions can be calculated and
recorded, and every object near the
spacecraft can be determined by con­
sulting the giant space radars of the
North
American
Air
Defense
Command (NORAD), headquartered
inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.
Extensive
crew
debriefings and
on-board tape recorder transcripts may
be available to obtain direct eye­
witness testimony.
With all these facts and assumptions
in mind, and mindful of the nume rous
'unsolved' cases which might tell much
about the lJFO phenomenon, I began
a special research program into this
particular body of evidence. As an
aerospace writer. historian, and re­
searcher, I felt that my experience
with astronautics, computers, Air

38

Force operations, and space miss:ons
might give me new insights into this
most puzzling series of cases. I was not
disappointed, and my results were
startling.
The basic truths behind these
sightings seems lately to have gathered
an
accretion
of
exaggeration,
confusion, and outright fiction. The
1968 "Condon Report" on UFOs
(conducted by the University of
Colorado for the U.S. Air Force)
found itself unable to penetrate three
specific cases, which the analyst felt
were •a "challenge" to any serious
investigator. Stories later began
circulating about sightings of lunar
surface lights and structures, and the
discovery of artifacts on the moon,
about near approaches of structured
objects, and about attempts at radio
contact between Apollo capsules and
UFOs. Recent books on UFOs give
lists of astronaut sightings which are
out of numeric sequence, misdated,
mispeUed, and otherwise distorted.
My research has revealed a few
examples of deliberate photo forgeries
by UFO buffs or opportunistic authors.
My investigations in the NASA

Page 7

arch,n•s has fl'\"l•aled ca..~es whcrl' UFO
rt•~c:i rchrr; withheld Cl•rtain informa­
tion frl'cly gi,·1•n them by N:\SA
officials. infori:tation which would
have clearly explained m;my cases
which the authors wantt•d to appear
mysterious. So the time has come to
take a ne\\' look at this whote
phenomenon. What is the truth about
"astronaut li rOs "?
The first step in any research might
be with the Condon report. t:-iought
by many to have been commissioned
as a "whitewash" of the UFO
phenomenon. UFO enthusiasts are
accustomed to hearing harsh criticism
of almost all aspects of this study. but
my own objections to the "astronaut
UFO" section is from a novel angle.
My own research suggests that the
Condon investigator, far from being
the best man for the job, was clearly
unqualified to evaluate the difficult
cases. He was not familiar with the
terminology of space flight or the
basics of orbital flight trajectories, as I
am. As
result , he ignored possible
explanations
while
incorrecUy
eliminating other possible answers.
In other words, far from being a
coverup, this chapter of the Condon
report is superficial. It is entirely
worthless as an endorsement of the
unexplained and unexplainable nature
of several astronaut sightings which I
will discuss. I can prove this remark­
able assertion to any investigator
serious enough to consider all the
evidence, much of which has never
before been published.
The Condon report does give some
details about the environment of
astronaut sightings, but even here does
not go far enough. More stress needs
to be put on the visual and photo­
graphic limitations of space flight: the
windows are far smaller than popularly
realized (about half the size of this
open magazine at arm's length), and
for many years were subject to
obscuration and smudging by seepage
o( sealant and by contamination by
rocket fuel. At various p_oints in the
fligh t, the spacecraft was surrounded
by cl ouds of d~bris (leaking fuel,
dum ped water, chipping paint, fraying
insulation, ejected equipment. and
more). while the inside of the weight•
less cabin was usually plagued with
fl oating particles of dust and debris
which often passed in front of camt!ras
pointing out windows. Other satellites
sho uld have been visible, since few
people realize that on any clear night

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Dc:sµitc the pt!r.~istl'11t rumo rs of '.,;ccrct space p ict'"rcs •. all
pho /nJ!rupl1s tahl'll by .V,\S.-\ i11 space arc i11 tlie public domui11. That is.
any p ict ure tuhc:,: by 1.111 astro11a111 or 011 earth resource, satellite is
ai:ailablr. to anyo11c who wants to pay fur i t.
There are foi: r tiers of plwto,;:-:iph Ji·cilcbility. but two a:-e rescri:ed
for 11ewsme11 only The ~/ructurc is us f olluws:
A . The most p o pular space photographs /alien arc lithographed for
general free di.,;tributiCJ11 to anyone who asr.s for them. Seueral dozen
new pho tographs are added to this list eucry year. Cost to .VAS,\ is a
few ce11ts per print.
8 . The N.-lS.-l Public Information Offices at uarious centers and at
headquarters prints gfossy photographs of t imely news stories for
distribution tu the news media. Hundreds of these photographs are
released euery year. but only crrtified newsmen can receiue them for
~~

.

C. .\!any thousands of other photographs and drawi11gs may be of
interest to the news media and arc therefore fifad at public i11formatio11
offices. but stock copies are not kept. Each request must be filled by
actual photo lab orders. which co:;ts NASA abo ut one dollar per
photograph.
D. A,1y citizen who wants copies of any photograph listed in 'B' or
'C' aboue con get it, but it is entirely reasonable for NASA to expect
him t o pay for it. News bureau photographs. along with all other (light
photography-stills and mouies-can be ordered from Bara Studios, P.O.
Box 486, Bladensburg, MD 20710. The cost of any photograph ordered
by st ock number is seueral dollars apiece. A ny cross-referencing or
researching will also cost money.
.
•
Some ground photographs of astronaut accidents, au topsies, and
medical examinations are not releasable for publication. On seueral
Gemini {lights, special photographic experiments were undertaken for
the DoD, but these inuolued special cameras and exclusiuely ear th
surface targe{s. In neither case would it be possible to withhold any
hypothetical UFO photographs from the public.
Astronaut photographs are indexed by a code which specifies year
taken and frame number. S66- 12387, for example, would be a NASA
photo (not necessarily a space photo) taken in 1966. Beginning w i th
Apollo, space photos were also indexed w ith a mission code, r oll
number and frame num ber (neither of which were repeated on later
{lights). For example, ASJ 6·108-13005 u•as taken on the Apollo-16
{light, with the 108th roll of the Apollo project (liglit film. Mouie film
is indexed per magazine with similar numbers.
Euery photograph euer taken by American astronauts for N ASA is
on file w ith Bara Studios and can be obtained by anyone wifling to pay
for them. Writers who produce 'secret NASA UFO photographs' which
they claim are being hidden from the American public are doing a gross
disseruice to one of the most open and cooperatiue public informat ion
offices of any federal agency.

an o bserver on Earth can see a number
of orbiting objects with only half an
effort. Out or this "backg?ound noise",
can we separate the "signal" which
will indicate the existence of UFOs?
These problems all are of interest to
space officials, and numerous studies
have been made. Fragments might
imply a structural failure (a rescue ship
was almost sent to Skylab-3 because of
the crew's observation of leaking fuel
droplets). Debris inside t!1e cabin can
irritate eyes and damage the electronic
gear behind the instrument panels.
Other satellites might be dangerous
due to the potential of coll ision o r
they might be of intelligence interest if
they are frcm somt! other nation.
Therefore, any mysterious space
sighting might as easily be vital for

39

NASA to know about as it might be a
true UFO: Careful investigations are
called for.
What are some of the most famous
cases, and what are the facts? Interpre­
tations may differ, but productive
thinking can only be done when all the
information is at hand. Some o( It is
hard to find or understand; other
information,
available
to some
researchers, may have been deliberate­
ly withheld. ·some classical cases may
consist of made-up fantasies. You can
soon judge for yourself.
Has there been any attempt to
"cover up" space sightings (a common
plea when no t!Vidence is available,
even in this age of sieve-like
government secrecy)? Are astronauts
"muzzled" about UFOs? Has fifteen

Page 8

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The "McOivitt UFO", pr ize-winning astronaut photograph taken on Gemini-4. Actually, McOivitt_axplained later after tho flight that
the sun was coming across the window as the_spacecraft rolled, the sun rays struck a metal bolt, causing the'Ci lares in the camera lens''.
NASA photo 65-H-1013.

years of manned spaceflight uncovered
any evidence at all which even
remotely suggests that Earth is being
visited and observed by advanced
spacesliips from another world? Let's
look at the evidence.
On June 3, 1965, rookie astronauts
Jim McDivitt and Ed White blasted
of( from Cape Kennedy (now again
Cape Canaveral), squeezed into their
Gemini-4 capsule. The two youngest•
ever . American spacemen were to
spend four days in orbit, tripling the
previous US record. They would be
the first American space crewmen to
have time to sightsee in space, once
major experiments like a booster
rendezvous and a walk in space were
completed.
Approximately thirty hours into
the flight ( while White was asleep) ,
McDivitt reported that he had seen an
object in space near his space capsule.
It appeared to be cylindrical with ·'an
arm sticking out", possibly on a
collision course. Interested NAS.-\
officials in Ho uston asked NORAD
which other space satellites were near
Cemini--1 at the time of the sigh ting,
and NORAD came up with a list of
about a dozen objects. All of them
were pieces of tiny debris or small
scicntit"ic satellites except one: the
giant, " winged" meteor satC'llitc,
Pegasus-2. It seemed to iit the descrip­
tion radioed down by McDivitt, so

NASA announced that the object had
been identified.
But Pegasus had been more than a
thousand miles away, and McDivitt
clearly saw an object much closer,
much more detailed, and in an orbit
very close to his own ("Collision
course" to a pilot means that the
relative angle of sight is unchanging,
which would not be the case for any
satellite crossing McDivitt's orbit). The
object became a UFO when nobody
could identify it. It has remained a
UFO up until today, but not any
longer.
McDivitt's hasty attempt to take a
photograph of the object thrqugh his
smeared window was apparently fruit•
less, since the object's motion
combined with the slow stabilization
spin of the spaceship carried it into the
glare of the sun after about 30 seconds.
The astronaut later recounted how he
went through all the films of the flight
(every roll of film is accounted for on
a flight manifest, so they do not
disappear) and found many over­
exposed or blank. This mission had
been the first night in which space
photography was a major experiment,
and the glaring sunlight of space had
invalidated many pre-flight exposure
settings. :\lcDivitt did not find any• thing which looked like ""his UFO".
What was it he ,aw? Why has it
become such a prominl•nt UFO case?

40

And if the pictures did not turn out,
where did NICAP get its "top four"
photograph (which shows, not a
winged cylinder, but a smeared blob)?
We can answer these questions at last.
The first hint as to the true identity
of this space UFO can be found in
McDivitt's own words, given at a press
conference a week after the flight
when his memory was fresh: "It
looked a lot like an upper staie of a
booster". Gemini does have a booster
just like it, and McDivitt had been
carrying out maneuvers near it early in
the flight. Why didn't the -list from
NORAD include the Gemini-4 boost er
rocket?
NORAD had been tracking the
objects, but NASA had not asked
about Gemini-4 and its own associated
debris- it had asked about Gemini--!
and any other earlier satellites.
Anyone familiar with computerized
information systems (one of my
professional specialities) can guess
what happened : the computer was
given a "query" which told it to
compare Gemini--t with the other
satellites. The computer never knew
where the Gemini booster was relati\•e
to the spacecraft, since it had not been
asked. :\lcDivitt had been visually
tracking the thirty foot long cylind1r
at a range of only 75 miles a few hours
earlier, but this large satellite never
made the "NORAD list" because

Page 10

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nobody thought to ask about it! The
list was incomplete!
What we do know from the
complete
Gemini-4
transcripts
(including the on-board tape recorder
as well as space-to-ground links), is
that the UFO appeared at the same
point in the Gemini orbit where the
booster had been rept-3tedly spotted
earlier in the flight. '.\fcDi\•itt had once
described seeing his booster with
straps h~nglng from it. Furthermore,
on at least one occasion on the first
day, McDivitt had at first been unable
to recognize the booster when he ·saw
il because it was close to the glare of·
the sun! Thi5 had been :it a range of
less than ten miles.
Yet another iniport:int factor
unknown to t!1e Cr1nciL•11 report w:i,
that '.\leDivin •.•::t.; C\J1:1p!:iini:1i;: ro thl-'·
ni ~ht surgt:on abou 1. his t'Yl'$ight
duri1\g this pho~c of th:) tli~ht. Hi:; eyes

were red and teary due to a reaction
with the cabin atmosphere and an
accidental massive urine spill. "I didn't
think I was going to be able t~ hack
it", McDivitt later had radioed to
Earth.
This famous UFO case now
becomes that of a pilot with watering
eves catching sight of an object in
p~rallel orbft, an object which he had
already misidentified a few hours
earlier. As to the photograph, an inves•
tigator must go through all the film of
the night to realize how common such
. blobsof
light
(o\·ere.'<posures,
r~tlcct i0m. glare. etc. ) ll'erc. Both
NAS.-l. and ;\lc:Di\·itt han• agrel.'d that
tl-ie sc,qucnCI.' ot' mo\·ie irames are a
,iew out t!u: winc.uw. showit\~ sunlii::ht
r~tl ~·cti11~ off a br\t. a~ain:;~ the dirty
window
~la~s.
'.~ !C..\F'
thinks
dii'forently b,:c:tu~e <)t t!ll' b:!tk of its
cop,· of th<! ph,Ho is a handwritten

42

note (nobody known by whom)
stating that McDivitt {nobody• knows
when) had communicated .{nobody
knows how) the fact that the picture
showed "his UFO". (This was made
clear by a telephone conversation
between the author and Jack Acuff of
NICAP on March 5, 1976).
Why has this case achie\'ed such
notoriety'? It probably resulted from
the enthusiasm of UFO believers. the
naive openness of NASA public
relations officials, and the publicity­
seeking opportunism of some of the
principals.
\lcDivitt himself did little to clear
the case up. instead using it as a ticket
onto natil•nal TV talk shows and news
interviews
(especially
after
his
rr.tirement in 19~. To add to the
mystPry. th~ former spaceman assl'rts.
"I have never bcrn ablt- to it.:entify it,
and I don't think anyone ever will."

Page 11

•• • • ••• •• g ,Cla:: t ,an

·--:a:.::-.;

On a recen t "U FO rncorcli:ig''
rrll-asrd by Columbia, calt.:d "UFOs:
The Credibility Facto r", :VlcDi\·itt
clrarly shows h ow h is mcmorirs have
ch:u1ged o r bc,m cl1a11g(•d to enhance
the mystery ot' hi3 C'Xpcricnce: "They
(NAS.-\) chcck,'d :'iOR..\D... to sec
what they had up on radar ancf there
w:isn 't anything within very close
range of us." Readers can measure the
credibility of this statcm~nt against .
the facts.
If McOivitt was fooled by his own
booster ten years ago, is it too much
to expect him to admit it now? What
would that do to all of his public
assertions of mystery? There is an
easier way out, and i'vlcOivitt took it
when I sent him an advance copy of
my manuscript. After keeping it two
months, he wrote back, "[ was not
able to read it very thoroughly and I
cannot offer any ext~nsive comments.
I do not foresee the opportunity for
me to provide any further re~w."
There weren't any errors in my
analysis, he implied, but it woulc! be
better kept quiet.
NASA never had any real doubts.
"We believe it to be a rocket tank or
spent second stage of a rocket," wrote
a high space official on July 1, 1965.
NORAD officials, confronted with my
scenario,
endorsed
it:
"Your
comments on the NORAD role related
to the case appear to pe logical,"
wrote NORAD Public Information
Officer D.W. Kindschi on Feo. 23,
1976.
So the "~lcDivitt case" is closed.
The best space UFO case has now been
identified. Do not expect to see any
change in the UFO press, however.
Such results are simply ignored.
Photographs made in space show
negative effects, such as the "McDivitt
UFO" aura, often. Spacecraft ·and
astronauts may be engulfed in a
strange aura caused by overexposure
to sunlight brighter than ever seen on
Earth. Blowups of photographs of
known space objects show them
appearing as "blobs" due to the
enlargement process and to the·
courseness of the grain. Ordinary space
pictures are full o f clouds o f debris,
constellations of man-made starlike
points fluttering through space.
The Condon report was fascinated
with the ~lcOi\·itt cas<', and fe\\· UFO
enthusiasts have not heard of it. But
n,:itlwr the Condon r£>st)archers nor the
average reader had ever had all the
facts. Now people can m:ike up thei r

I havl' ''" d ,iub~ th;,t
~lcl)i\"itl w:i~ ~<!l'i:1g his ow11 Til.::n
tJCJostrr stage.
Or. Roach wa~ also fasd n:•l •~cl wi t!t
another :,.1coi, itt si~foiti'.11}, that uf a
point of light ::rc:,i:::·::; the ; k·: . The
object
soundr.,j
j•.1.,l
Iii-:<>
th•!
appearance of an artifici.!l earth
satellite, and that is e~:actly wh:it
\kDivitt thought it \•:.:s. There is no
information to suggest it w.:_s anything
else.
Another Condon favorite is a
Gemini -7 case. The report of sightings
of a cloud of debris right at the
moment of boostt•r separation (these
particles included frozen fuel droplets,
the booster itself. assorted insulation
and structural fragments from where
the explosive bolts were fired, and
other smaller objects never identified
and never cared about) is not very
impressive. The crew, on their first
space mission, saw a few pieces they
had nol expected (the pilot guessed­
wrongly-that they "were in polar
orbit"). Only a partisan digging for
evidence, and desperate to find such
evidence, would make much of this
common event.
But a sign of desperation is indeed
own minds.

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43

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,

round in 1'1)1111: •ction l'.'isli Lill! t, ;~mi!! i·

I GFO ca~t'. It is not th~ clc::1w ra•.i1a ~
0f gtn·criun•_
•nl oflici, I:; t~y i11!{ to c:ur••r
up t.he truth ahoul GfU:;. R;,hrr, it :s
thr dl'spernlion of some outsider

tryi:1~

t rJ

m:t~:;f:-,.-:- tu:c1

co u ni .~rf,.i,

"astrnnaut L:FO" <?videnc~. Jn acli·. ;r. \·
which should not be nc>ce:s;a,y if th~
" rt'al"
L: FO evidence w~rC' as
persuasive as many thint.
It involves :i photograph showing
two very strange glowing ocjects. Each
is he:,agonal in shape, ~·:ew!c'd at an
angle, ~nd supported by ;;. dazzling
"force field" below it. A cloud­
covered earth is se.?n in the
background. s~~ p\cd~ ~1 ~ :l.8
This photograph h as appeared in
books, magazines, newspapers, and
pamphlets. It is part of the travellina
slide show of UFO lectur~rs from th;
Mutual UFO Network (i\!VFON) and
elsewhere. I have heard it described
as •\showing a typical UFO force field
propulsion system", and "similar to
other UFO photograph taken on
Earth the same year".
The photograph is a forgery. It is a
hoax. What the anonymous counter­
feiter did (I have reason to suspect a

Page 12

·--·:®

l
J

The outhor .>nd NASA photo an.:ilvn R ichard
Undorwood show "•p~ce UFO" photos to Or.
J. Allun Hynok, dirolctor o f the center for UFO

n udios. July . 1976. t l vn4k -subsuquPn';'fy ,.,.,_

dorscd Ob0rLJ'S conclusions.

Saturn booner S-IV-b and f our open "SL.A"
panels. On moon flights tho four "petals.'.'
fly free and, together with the empty boo:<t­
•r. tum.ble through spaca a faw miles from
the Apollo capsule. They were often seon as
·bright flashing lighn as they reflected th o
powerful sunligh t . On Apollo-1 2 , astronau t
desc r iptions of theH fra;imonts wore m i s­
Interpreted by UFO buffs and metamorphized Into alien spacecraft.

"Mysterious" bulls aye object
wen and photographed by Gam­
lnl-6 astronauts I n December, 1965.
Unfortunately for flyi ng 1aucer
buff~, It Is not• UFO; it Is an out of
focus photo of the approaching
Gemlnl-7 spacesh ip, noH on.
NASA photo S 65-65296.
0

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44

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Page 13

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.; . .
' . .·.
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r

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Photo of Gemlnl-7 from G..,mini-6, December 1965. The brlghtnus aura is a common space photo effect and often makes
point 1ourcH appear to be surrounded by a "force field" or an " e xhaust i:rail". NASA photo S-65-65304.

Japanese UFO organization) was take
an ordinary photograph oC Earth made
Crom the Gemini-7 spaceship on
December 4, 1965. The nose of the
spacecraft fills the lower part of the
frame, and on the nose, catching the
glare of the sun, is a pair of roll
·c ontrol rocket thrusters used to acijus t
the attitude and spin rate of the
Gemini. The original photo (NASA
S65-63722, which I have personally

examined) was then retouched by the
unscrupulous hoaxter to eliminate the
edge of the nose from view. so the
dark surface of the sp!lct-ship merged
into the dark Earth beneath. This left
the two now mysterious lights
seemingly suspendt:d in space, as it
were. A no rmal space touri., t photo
was turned into conrincing UFO
evidence, and thousands of people
were fool ed.

45

American spacemen are not the
only ones reporting UFOs, according
to the popular press. Stories tha t
allegedly come from Moscow tell
about UFOs followin g Soviet man ned
spacecraft in the Vostok and Voskhod
series ten years ago. But such secrecy
surrounds the entire Soviet space
effort that these stories cannot be
checked out.
That very secrecy. ho wever, is itself

Page 14

!l

pn\·:•· , ( .. I

t11·;.:~1n1. 1i l

;i_! :~iu ,i

,;,.;

vahdit:1 of th·! ru,:i u. •. Sn r,1.,n'.)
o r<!ir:JI'_' th:,:,:-; J l,v11L l hc So·.ic~ s p:.;;,J
pro1rJ1n a:.: Sl' Cr cl (and 1011g pri~o n
terms a,·. ;.it :i11yo11c who even
:icc:idc 11l:ll!y cin,l;:es .-.uclr ,fatal thal it
i,; inc:·l•cii t:1,· lh :tt ; o .,cn, tdr:: :i,1d .;i~­
nit:ca•ll:, fa.:L as a (.;fl) , i,:htin;: rould
erer lea k ou~. evcn if su.:h a thing had
really har,p~ned.
The rule,; of ~\·id,rncc hari? been
Hretched and brokt?n by I.JFO
partisans. It i.; not up to me to " prn,;e"
that these sightings ne\·er took place.
Nobody has a.; y~ t s£:en any P.\'idcnce
apart from a simp:c slat .?ment of fact
that th.: .sightings did ta!,e place. I will
be happy lo consider evidence when it
becomes a\'ailahl<!.
Let's examine more of cnese
"cosmonaut UFO;;". Ir, UFOs From
Behina The Iron Curtain, the UFO
magazine 'Clypeus' is ouoted about an
object seen by b o th Vostok-5 and
Vostok-6 , a fleet of disks seen by
Voskhod-1, and "strailge cylinders in
space which were perfectly formed
and had no apertures " seen by
Voskhod-1, Voskhod-2, and Gemini-4
(sic!).

Text continues in the original file (86 pages).

Same release: Release 03

• CIA-UAP-017 — Placement on High Alert Due to Perceived Aggressive Foreign Posturing
• DOW-UAP-D084 — US Army-Flying-Saucer-Study 1949
• FBI-UAP-D002 — FD-1057, Unresolved UAP Report, Colorado Springs, 2022
• FBI-UAP-D003 — Digital Rendering, Unresolved UAP Report, Colorado Springs, 2022
• FBI-UAP-D009 — FD-302-67, “Northeastern Orb Sighting,” 2026
• FBI-UAP-D010 — FD-302-71, “Northeastern Orb Sighting,” 2026