By Vicky Verma | How & Whys
Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, who is best known for his adorable photograph with two dogs, is another victim who encountered something strange in space. He claimed to have seen what appeared to be an “organic, alien-like creature” in the space shuttle payload bay and even reported the sighting to ground control.
In 2018, Melvin made astonishing claims during a discussion with self-proclaimed UFO researcher Scott C. Waring. Former NASA astronaut and former NFL football player confessed to seeing the alleged creature in the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis, which was orbiting Earth.
Immediately after noticing the “creature,” he and his fellow astronauts reported the sighting to NASA, but the space agency experts answered that the most likely explanation for the mysterious sightings was ice that had broken off from the shuttle and that it was the movement of the floating shards that caught the astronaut’s eye, making him see “an organic” creature.
This peculiar conversation happened on Twitter where Waring asked: “What’s your outlook about the existence of intelligent alien life living in our solar system? Have you ever witnessed a UFO?”
The NASA engineer responded he witnessed something translucent, curved, organic looking when he was working with his colleague Randy Bresnik. He wrote: “I was about to say “Houston we have a problem” but know everyone spins-up when those words are uttered from a space vehicle.”
Hello @Astro_Flow whats your outlook about the existence of intelligent alien life living in our solar system? Have you ever witnessed a UFO? Please share with us. Thanks, SCW
— UFO Sightings Daily (@UFO_Sightings_X) August 4, 2018
The astronauts went on asking NASA what they may have seen in space, and the space agency answered that the most likely explanation was ice that had broken away floated of the freon hoses. Warring went on to suggest that NASA’s explanation was a cover, what Melvin dismissed, although he did write “you never know.”
A number of NASA astronauts made sensational claims about alien life and things they had witnessed during their time in space. There are several accounts of UFO sightings witnessed by NASA astronauts as well as Russian cosmonauts while being on the space station.
During his time in space, former NASA astronaut Jerry M. Linenger saw some anomalies that were not space debris. He shared his sightings on a live interview with Bild in 2018. He said: “Well, I’m going to stick my neck out, but how many people think I saw a UFO when I was up there? Well, I did, I saw things in the true sense of the word, unidentified flying objects – don’t take me out of context there – no aliens. But I saw stuff that made me call my crewmates over and say ‘What the heck is that?’”
His statements stunned everyone as it is a unique case when people listen to an astronaut talking about UFOs in space. The credibility of Mr. Linenger is very high.
During his interview, he further said: “We’d look and sometimes it was metallic, it was like a spoon if you were off in the distance and in the province of space good luck figuring out if it’s a really small object close-by, something floated out of the airlock. Is it something 100,000 miles away that’s the size of a big spacecraft? It’s very hard to distinguish that, usually it was something you could kind of explain, maybe an external tank or something like that. But you would see things and you go ‘wow, that’s cool – I don’t know what that was exactly, but it’s not a satellite’.” (Click here to read the full story)
On May 5, 1981, retired Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok saw something remarkable from the porthole of Salyut 6. According to Kovalyonok, at around 6 p.m., when the spacecraft was flying over South Africa moving towards the Indian ocean, he saw an elliptical-shaped object that was flying along with the spacecraft. From the frontal view, it looked like it would rotate in flight direction.
“The object resembles a barbell. I saw it becoming transparent and like with a ‘body’ inside. At the other end I saw something like gas discharging, like a reactive object. Then something happened that is very difficult for me to describe from the point of view of physics,” Kovalyonok said.
He further added: “I have to recognize that it did not have an artificial origin. It was not artificial because an artificial object couldn’t attain this form. I don’t know of anything that can make this movement… tightening, then expanding, pulsating.”
Another bizarre claim was made by cosmonaut Victor Afanasyev. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Afanasyev dared to tell his story. In April 1979, he lifted off from Star City to dock with the Soviet Salyut 6 space station. But while en route, something strange happened. He saw an unidentified object that turned toward his craft and began following it through space. (Click here to read the full story)
In addition, Afanasyev said that they photographed the craft and continually reported back to Mission Control about its size, shape, and position. When the cosmonaut returned to Earth, he was debriefed and ordered not to talk to anyone about it ever. His cameras were confiscated. Those photos and his voice transmissions from space have never been released.
Despite these strong and bold statements by the renowned astronauts, the space agencies have always ignored such reports. There might be more such cases but due to peer pressure from the government and other agencies, they have never been disclosed. The presence of extraterrestrials in our solar system or on Earth is still a mystery but as we are approaching the future, a few insiders come forward with surprising information.
This article was originally published by How & Whys.