“Please be advised that there is a Santa Claus,” astronaut James Lovell radioed to NASA on December 25, 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. He most likely was not talking about Saint Nick, according to ufologists.
Astronauts see and report on UFOs so often that as early as 1963, during the Mercury missions, NASA came up with a code word for a UFO sighting Santa Claus. If an astronaut saw something he couldn’t recognize, he was to say “Santa Claus” instead of “UFO.”
There were so many rumors that UFOs were seen during the infamous Apollo 11 moon landing, that even Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! was reporting them in the 1970’s. Although not a scientific journal by any means, they can be seen as an accurate portrait of the national subconscious.
And NASA didn’t help themselves by losing some tape of the Apollo 11 transmissions. Although now seen as part of a cover-up by NASA’s bosses (the US government), it was most likely due to human error. These transmissions include an exchange that the astronauts saw huge UFOs on the dark side of the moon.
These transmissions were monitored by amateur ham radio operators, who were the ones who most likely started the rumors of UFOs seen by astronauts. In 2006, Buzz Aldrin claims that he certainly saw UFOs. Neil Armstrong has also said that he saw UFOs, but would never go into detail about them although he hinted that the CIA was behind why he would not go into detail.
There certainly are a lot of strange lights and metal objects recorded on film or photograph by NASA missions from rockets to the space shuttle. NASA is pretty good about letting these images go on public record. They are usually a bit blurry and indistinct. Some have an odd elegance to them like visual art. Film taken of a large metal sphere by the shuttle Atlantis looks more like a nature documentary of a bird flying in the sky than of a large UFO hovering over the Earth’s atmosphere.
Astronauts are not usually known to be people who give in to fears or intricate practical jokes. They also are usually not prone to the visual problems and migraines that can cause auras, which often include flashing lights. Astronauts are usually very outspoken that something is out there, although they are usually not conclusive as to whether UFOs exist or not.
One astronaut who does was on the Mercury missions, Gordon “Gordo” Cooper, who even addressed the UN about UFOs in 1985. Thankfully, Cooper thinks the UFOs are intelligent and open to peaceful negotiations. (November, 1988, issue (Vol 1, No. 3) issue of UFO Universe magazine; Condor Books 351 West 54th St., New York, N.Y. 10019] )That certainly must have been a relief to hear to the badgered UN delegates.
