Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 14 lunar module pilot Speaks Out
On October 1997, Edgar Mitchell – a former pilot and astronaut with a PhD in engineering, called for congressional hearings on whether or not the US has captured alien craft and studied them to produce new technologies – he believes that this has occurred as part of a top secret project. He also believes this secret project has been in existence for decades under a shadow administration hidden away from the US President. The Pentagon are also unaware of this project.
Mitchell admits to having no first hand experience of the secret project but does believe that there is enough evidence to suggest that alien technology is being back-engineered by certain groups using “black-budget funds”. These groups are “maverick” and under no governmental control.
Mitchell also believes there are people who, having been involved with government cover-ups at Roswell etc…, would like to come forward and disclose what they know but are afraid they will be breaking loyalties or oaths of secrecy. Probably since Eisenhower was president, the US high-level leadership has been unaware of these particular “black projects” – records now no longer exist, so we can no longer check.
Mitchell has been told that (elderly) men who were in the military and Government positions during, for instance, the Roswell Incident and who held authority are now prepared to come forward saying there was an ET event at Roswell.
Mitchell has set up a UFO/ET research group to investigate how clandestine groups can siphon off government money for these “black budget” projects involving alien technology and believes that UFOs are beyond anything the US government has developed and regards the “Phoenix Lights ” as evidence of this.
Nasa struggles to shape its future By Irene Mona Klotz, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
“We’re committed to opening lines of communication and making sure people get their dissenting opinions and minority opinions on the table “
Wayne Hale – NASA
By the time Nasa managers meet again to oversee a shuttle mission, they may find their old rectangular table replaced by a nice big round one.
Or perhaps the team will gather around a triangular table, like the US Navy uses.
“Now you laugh,” chides deputy shuttle manager Wayne Hale, addressing a group of grinning reporters. “But when you talk about culture and how people subconsciously deal with hierarchy, and where they fit within an organisation, and whether they feel comfortable in bringing things up, things like the shape of the table matter.”
Hale, a former flight director recently picked to serve as the shuttle programme’s deputy manager, is taking a stab at explaining how Nasa will tackle the most challenging recommendations offered by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board: changing the agency’s mindset.
“I’m wishing I’d taken more sociology classes in college,” confesses Hale.
“I’m learning a lot – I think we’re all learning a lot in this arena – and we’re committed to opening lines of communication and making sure people get their dissenting opinions and minority opinions on the table so we can consider them.”
Nasa is not quite ready for yoga and aromatherapy, but Hale says outside experts will be sitting in on training simulations and gauging communication and management skills as carefully as technical experts crunch data about solid rocket booster performance.
“I’ve added a number of books to my bookshelf that are decision-making related,” says Hale. “And we’re going to have a number of these folks come and talk to us.”
“Flawed decision making”
Investigators probing the fatal 1 February shuttle accident faulted Nasa management and flawed decision-making processes as much as hardware breakdowns for loss of Columbia and its seven astronauts.
In depth guide: Columbia’s last mission:
Mission managers, for example, squashed attempts by engineers to obtain high-resolution photographs of the shuttle in orbit to assess possible damage from a debris impact at lift off. Accident investigators determined the shuttle was destroyed because of wing damage from falling foam insulation.
Managers also failed to meet daily, as rules required, and failed to realise that data being used to rationalise the foam strike as a non-issue was being erroneously applied.
“We’ve got to put into place a structure that prevents the next accident,” says Hale.
“We were not good enough,” he added. “We did not do what is necessary to keep the Columbia crew safe. That is something we have to live with as a legacy that will compel us to do the right thing for future shuttle flights and for future human exploration of space.”
More headaches:
Hale’s comments came at the midpoint of a three-day workshop to explain Nasa’s plans for returning its remaining three space shuttles to flight.
With all the new requirements for launching, just getting a shuttle off the ground will be an accomplishment.
The new constraints include:
daylight liftoff for better photographs and video of possible debris strikes sunlit angles on the fuel tank as it is being jettisoned – and photographed – eight and a half minutes after lift off. These rules are in addition to the technical requirements to launch when the station’s orbit is properly aligned with the launch site and to schedule the mission when the sun angle will not fry or freeze a shuttle docked at the station.
Add to the mix:
the launch schedules of commercial and government payloads from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which supplies range safety and tracking services for shuttle flights as well Soyuz and Progress launches and operations at the space station the occasional meteor shower and, of course, Florida’s famous fickle weather, and you have “a great challenge,” says flight director John Shannon.
During the autumn and winter, the launch opportunities shrink to just a few days a month.
Mr Shannon says: “We’re just beginning to grapple with what that means for the space station.”
The following article was published in “The St. Petersburg Times” (U.S. – Florida)
On February 18th 2004
Astronaut: We’ve had visitors
The sixth man to walk on the moon shares his unconventional views.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
The aliens have landed – Thus declared Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell on Saturday to more than 200 admirers.
“A few insiders know the truth . . . and are studying the bodies that have been discovered,” said Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon.Mitchell, who landed on the moon with Alan B. Shepard, said a “cabal” of insiders stopped briefing presidents about extraterrestrials after President Kennedy.
For those who might consider his statements farfetched, Mitchell, who has a doctorate in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, noted that 30 years ago it was accepted that man was alone in the universe. Few people believe that now, he said.
Besides aliens, Mitchell talked about being freed of prostate cancer during a healing ceremony and his epiphany while returning from the moon.
“I had an opportunity to be a tourist,” he said, going on to speak about the sensation he felt as he watched the Earth, moon and sun.
Raised as a Southern Baptist, Mitchell said his feeling of interconnectedness could not be explained by traditional religion alone. He later founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
On its Web site, the California organization says it conducts and sponsors “leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness” and that it explores “phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.”
The site also states that IONS, as it is known by members, is not a spiritual sect, political action group or single-cause institute.
Saturday afternoon, dozens of people made their way through rain to hear Mitchell and IONS president James O’Dea speak at the Heritage Holiday Inn in downtown St. Petersburg.
Lisa Raphael, a member of IONS who describes herself as a transformational holistic healer, said she was pleased to hear Mitchell’s comments.
“Personally, what was most delightful to me was that he was more open than he has ever been, very direct about knowing that there are other forms of intelligent life in the universe and most probably that they have been here,” said Ms. Raphael.