NASA Astronaut's Widow Shares His Belief In UFOs

The widow of Edgar D. Mitchell, a former NASA astronaut who walked on the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission, has spoken publicly about her late husband's thoughts on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Her comments add to a long-running and often divisive conversation about whether Earth has been visited by intelligent life from elsewhere in the universe.

Mitchell, who passed away in 2016, became known later in life for expressing a belief that humans were not alone in the universe. According to his widow, Anita Mitchell, he took the idea of UFOs seriously and had heard similar accounts from other astronauts and pilots. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Anita recalled her husband saying he believed "there were UFOs out there because many pilots and astronauts had seen something."

Although Edgar Mitchell was one of only a handful of people to have walked on the lunar surface, his views on UFOs were personal rather than based on anything he witnessed during his space missions. Throughout his life, Mitchell suggested that various military and space personnel had experienced unusual sightings, both in the sky and in space. Anita supports this view, saying her husband told her about other astronauts, such as James McDivitt and Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., who had reported strange objects during their careers.

One example she shared was a conversation at their home with Cooper, who was part of the Mercury space programme in the early 1960s. According to Anita, Cooper once told them he had seen something for which "we have nothing that goes that fast or that high." She also noted that some pilots had seen craft-like objects while flying at high altitude, though they had been unable to identify or pursue them.

Edgar Mitchell was one of several former astronauts to publicly call for greater transparency around the topic of UFOs. In 2009, he urged the US government to release classified information related to unexplained sightings. He often claimed that officials were withholding evidence of encounters with advanced technology and even possible extraterrestrial life.

Mitchell's comments were often met with a mix of support and criticism. Some praised his willingness to speak openly about a subject that others in his position avoided, while others questioned the strength of the evidence behind his claims. It's worth noting that Mitchell himself never claimed to have personally seen a UFO or encountered aliens; his stance was more about raising awareness of what he believed were credible witness accounts from fellow pilots and astronauts.

His widow's recent comments appear in her new book 'You Don't Look Like an Astronaut's Wife', which includes memories of her time with Mitchell and insights into the space programme from a more personal angle. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Anita said that in her view, "there was something out there," a phrase her husband also used when describing what he believed others had witnessed.

While there's nothing new in terms of physical evidence, the renewed attention around Mitchell's beliefs comes at a time when interest in UFOs - or UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), as they are now often referred to in official language - has once again entered the mainstream. In recent years, even the Pentagon has acknowledged that some sightings reported by military pilots remain unexplained.

However, whether these objects represent advanced technology from another civilisation, a misidentified man-made craft, or something else entirely remains a point of debate. The comments from someone as closely linked to the space programme as Anita Mitchell don't offer answers, but they do remind us that questions about what might be out there continue to intrigue those closest to the edge of space.