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Enigma of the UFOAre the Alien Visitors, hallucinations or natural phenomena?To many people unidentified flying objects (UFO) are a harmless hoax. Yet they have been seen and photographed by astronauts, airline pilots, policemen, astronomers, housewives meteorologists and farmersThe big mystery that has remained since the popular term "flying saucers" was first coined in 1947 is "What are UFOs and Where do they come from? "All kinds of explanations have been put forward to account for the worldwide sightings of disks, egg shapes, spheres and other oddly formed aerial objects. They have been explained away as unusual cloud formations,fireballs,meteorites,weather balloons,optical illusions,hallucinations or simply fabrications engineered by publicity seeking cranks. But not every reported case can be dismissed in this way. The most logical attitude toward UFO's is that man is faced with a series of strange, at times inexplicable phenomena. The attitude of Ufologists - goes a step further. They usually claim that the earth is under surveillance by alien intelligences. Tomorrow, perhaps the truth will emerge. Meanwhile mankind is left with a mass of evidence that ranges from impartial, level-headed accounts to the totally implausible. The First SaucersThe Flying Saucer story began on June 24,1947, when a private pilot , Kenneth Arnold who was taking part in a search for a missing transport aircraft,saw 9 disk shaped objects flying over Mount Rainier, Washington. He described the objects as "flying like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water". Arnold's veracity and professional reputation were beyond question and his account of the incident was accepted by the authorities. Newspapers picked up the story and labelled the objects "flying saucers" Since then , there have been waves of reports of sightings. Even the house of representatives' Committee on Science and Astronautics has held special hearings to take evidence from witnesses. Gemini 4 Astronaut ReportOne of the most spectacular recent reports came from a Gemini 4 astronaut, James McDivitt, in June 1965. In orbit about,90 miles above the earth, McDivitt saw a cylindrical object, apparently with arms sticking out of it which he took to be another spacecraft with antennae. It appeared to be in free drifting flight over the pacific, somewhat higher than the Gemini Capsule. McDivitt took one still photograph and some movie film.He observed that the object was nearby and moving in a path toward his own spacecraft, but closing in fast. McDivitt and his fellow astronaut, Edward White, were hastily preparing to take evasive action when the UFO disappeared from view. After splashdown the film was taken away, and McDivitt did not see it again for several days. When he did inspect the film, the object was "hazily" outlined against the sky. But he remained unalterably convinced it was a positive identification. Originally McDivitt thought he had seen some unmanned satellite. The official view was that he had spotted the unmanned photographic satellite Pegasus. But that was 1200 miles away at the time. However extraordinary their content, such reports have been given serious consideration. As highly trained observers,astronauts are unlikely to give away to speculation or imagination. Capt Ed Mitchell, the 6th man to walk on the moon told a press conference in 1974: " I am completely convinced that some UFO sightings are real. The question isn't where the they are from, The question is What are they? " UFO's in orbit
A total of 26 astronauts have reported seeing UFO's while in orbit. The first was in 1962. NASA takes the phenomenon very seriously and checks into every sighting and analyzes all photos. An Occupant sighting was reported on April 24,1964, in Sorocco New Mexico. State Policemen gave up chasing a speeding motorist to chase this UFO,when they saw one apparently coming into land about a mile away. They reported that they found outside the town,a bright metallic oval,the size of an upturned car. Standing beside it were two humanoid figures,about the size of 10 year old children. As he called headquarters to report, the figures retreated inside, and the object took off. On July 1 , the following year, a French Lavender grower in the Provence village of Valensole saw what he thought were youths trying to steal his valuable plants. There were two diminutive figures, standing by an object "about the size of a Renault". He got within 5 yards of them before one of the boys pointed an instrument at him and he claimed to have become paralyzed. The two figures then boarded their craft and it sped away. It was regarded as yet another sighting-until an interviewer showed the lavender grower a photograph. The man became terrified, showing all the symptoms of severe shock. It was a picture of a model given a a policeman 15 months ago and it exactly matched the figure that the vegetable grower saw. Mississippi October 11,1973On this sunny day two shipyard workers were out fishing claimed to have been taken aboard an egg shaped UFO and examined by three silvery skinned creatures with no eyes. One was then 42, the other 19 said the creatures kept them for about 20 minutes,"photographed" them and then took them back to a riverside pier. One said he fainted when he first saw the humanoid creatures. Each had a slit for the mouth and three pointed protrusions instead of nose and ears. Their vehicle had descended from the sky to hover a few feet over the nearby river.After the incident the two men were interviewed by an astronomer who investigated such occurances for the US Air Force TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE: According to the Doctors they had undergone such a shocking thing that they couldn't put it exactly into words. Whatever happened to them definitely affected their rationality. Holsworthy North England Sighting October 24 1967Two Police constables on motor patrol got involved in a high spee chase with an object resembling a shiny cross for about 50 minutes in the cold dawn. Those two constables Roger Willey and Clifford Wycott later held a press conference. Willey said "It looked like a star-spangled cross,radiating points of light from all angles. At time we drove at 90 miles an hour to keep up with it. It seemed to be watching us and would not let us catch up. It had terrific acceleration and knew we were chasing it" The ministry of Defense later said that the mysterious object was a giant jet tanker of the U.S Air Force on a refueling mission. However it was soon established that none of the tankers was airborne at that the time. Mysterious spacecrafts appear to be attracted to Western England. The town of Warminister is the UFO sightings' capital of the World. Since the mid sixties there have been thousands of reports.
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