NASA film CL 862, "Photo Aberrations, Debris, and UFOs" (May 1979) Silent. Color. Running time approx 10 min 30 seconds.
Scene description by James E. Oberg (Nov 23,1979)
NASA photo technician
Don Pickard had assembled this collection based on my request (in my unofficial
role as a public lecturer on the subject of UFO claims) for the most famous
claimed "astronaut UFO photos", so that they could be shown in their original
complete form rather than in the distorted, often
modified images that appeared in the UFO literature. Pickard added a few of
his own favorite "UFO" scenes too. In particular, in 1980 this film was shown
at the Smithsonian Institute seminar on UFOs and at an OMNI-sponsored "UFO Summit"
where I debated Allen Hynek.
1/
00:00 to 00:13
The Gemini program in 1964-1966 was the topic of numerous UFO reports in the
popular press; NASA' official position was and is that nothing was seen which
cannot be accounted for in terms of prosaic phenomena such as spacecraft debris
and nearby satellites.
2/
00:13 to 00:24
Most of the film shot on manned space flights has not been seen by the public,
but this is not due to any classification or cover-up. All NASA film shot in
space is open for release. There is so much of it, and the needs of the news
media are such, that much of the film was not of interest. Also, much is overexposed
or underexposed or in some other way not particularly suitable for publication
-- just like with anybody else's vacation movies.
3/
00:24 to 00:38
The most widely publicized Gemini UFO occurred on the Gemini-4 flight in June,
1965. Here, co-pilot Ed White (who later was killed in the Apollo fire)
looks out through the spacecraft's small, often badly smudged windows.
4/
00:38 to 01:19
Viewing the Earth, the astronauts also caught sight of a passing spacecraft
which will appear in the upper right of this film. This object was the nearby
Titan-2 second stage which had put them into orbit and with which they had conducted
rendezvous maneuvers. They saw it repeatedly in the early hours of the flight,
although sometimes the sun's glare niade it hard to recognize.
5/
01:19 to 01:23
This was the first mission on which photography was a major objective; it was
three times as long as the previous longest American flight. Camera settings
were still experimental, and most film did not turn out well.
6/
01:23 to 01:41
This is a stop-action of the Titan-2 stage as it passed by on this occasion,
as it followed an orbit which brought it repeatedly close to the Gemini. The
next day, while White slept, McDivitt caught a glimpse of a nearby object which
he described as "beer can" shaped -- a description which fits the Titan-2. But
McDivitt does not believe it was the Titan-2, pre-ferring to believe that it
was some other man-made satellite passing nearby. The Gemini was not being tracked
by radar, although computer predictions were being generated -- so what was
near the Gemini at this point is not known. Most observers imagine that Mc'Divitt,
his eyes watering badly from a spill of urine, failed to recognize the Titan-2
because it was in an unexpected quadrant of the sky.
7/
01:41 to 01:51
Here, McDivitt looks out the window at another phase of the mission. His attempts
to take photos of the object which he glimpsed were unsuccessful, since a careful
search of all flight film did not reveal any objects -- but did show that most
of the film was badly exposed due to uncertainties in lighting conditions. Accusations
that the "real" McDivitt "UFO photographs" are being kept secret are completely
false.
8/
01:51 to 01:59
This sequence has been widely accepted as showing this spurious "McDivitt UFO".
What it actually shows, according to McDivitt, was a few seconds test ex-posure
which caught a reflection off part of White's window. It was not an external
object. However, im-mediately after the conclusion of the Gemini-4 flight, under
pressure from the press for the al-leged photograph, a technician at NASA beadquarters
searched the entire flight film and, without checking with McDivitt, guessed
that this 'tadpole' shape was possibly the scene McDivitt had referred to.
9/
01:59 to 02:20
Hence this 'tadpole' UFO has been wid(ly published as showing the "UFO", and
some researchers have even identified a 'plasma propulsion stream'. One UFO
group called it one of the four best UFO photographs ever taken. However, a
complete screening of the on-board flight film would have shown that such lights
are not uncommon on the film, and that actual views of spacecraft nearby look
quite different.
10/02:20
to 02:43
Here is an example of typical flight film, under-exposed, and showing points
of light which could well be called UFOs. As the spacecraft turns to let in
more sunlight through the porthole, it becomes obvious that the gleams of light
are highlights on the astronaut's spacesuit. The poor quality of most on-board
film from Gemini-4 is not appreciated by the advocates of the authenticity of
the "tadpole UFO".
11/02:43
to 02:58
On the other hand, this is a sequence showing an actual nearby spacecraft, an
Agena target vehicle from the Gemini-10 flight. Photographs of such
Agena's which show only the docking lights, or which show double window reflections
off highlights on the spacecraft, have also been falsely promoted as UFOs by
unscrupulous newsmen and UFO enthusiasts.
12/
02:58 to 03:15
In this similar view of the Agena, note the presence of the Gemini's nose section,
including the recessed rocket engines used for roll control. The sunlight catches
the white interior of these nozzles. On a photograph from Gemini-7 (not shown),
these two nozzles glow brightly against the dark nose and against the dark Earth
beneath; they are so bright that a hexagonal image is caught by the camera's
optical system. The photograph, with the edge of the Gemini nose structure retouched
and subdued,has been widely published as showing two UFOs with glowing undersides
and a forcefield propulsion system.'
Such forgeries have been cir-culating since at least 1970.
13/
03:l5 to 03:20
The far more spectacular Apollo flights to the moon attracted even more stories
about UFOs seen and photographed by astronauts. As in the Gemini program, these
stories were also easily explainable but the explanations were never publicized.
14/
03:2Q to 03:42
More views of the Saturn-V launching
15/ 03:42 to
03:51
More views of the Saturn-V launching
16/
03:51 to 04:13
Telescopic cameras record the spaceward climb of a moon-bound manned spaceship.
Note the shock wave patterns in the exhaust of the rocket. Early in the program,
such shock waves returned radar echoes of significant size, leading to claims
from unin-formed sources that UFOs would chase space rockets
into orbit. But the cameras showed only the rocket.
17/
04:13 to 05:03
After the rocket was finished firing, the Apollo would turn around and dock
with the lunar module inside its 'garage'. The walls of the garage would be
jettisoned, and one so-called "SLA panel" is seen tumbling here. Debris and
ice particles would be shaken loose and would surround the Apollo in a blizzard
; note also the tumbling strap which flies from lower right to upper center.
These are ordinary space sights -- yet photographs of such pieces of debris
have been widely published as UFOs. Sometimes all but one of the
particles have been airbrushed out of the published photographs.
18/
05:03 to 05:29
The spent S-4B booster also drifted along with the moon-bound astronauts, driven
by its own momentum. For days, the booster and the four "SLA panels" would be
visible at a range of tens or hundreds of miles, until, nearing the moon, the
Apollo changed course by means of its on-board rocket engine. The astronauts,
particularly on Apollo-11, spent time viewing and discussing the spacecraft
debris which was accompanying them. At no time did these flashing lights ever
change course or in any way behave dif-ferently than ordinary space objects.
19/
05:29 to 05:34
The most spectacular space UFOs have been associated with the flight of Apollo-11
in July 1969, the first landing on another world in space. Here, astronauts
Armstrong, Collins, and Aidrin perform routine duties on their way out to the
moon.
20-24/05:34
to 07:13
These scenes from Apollo-l1's 'magazine F' have been widely acclaimed as showing
two UFOs following the spacecraft. The film was actually shot by Aldrin in lunar
orbit, by accident, as he was attaching the camera to its bracket in the right
hand window of the lunar module the day before the landing. As can be seen by
viewing the film in motion, the 'objects' are smears and glares and reflections
-- the two most prominent lights are reflections off of a double-curved surface
behind the shoulder of the co- pilot, reflections which the astronauts and ground
training personnel were quite familiar with. Yet the photographs were taken
by a UFO magazine editor, cropped, contrast-enhanced, and retouched to remove
extraneous reflections) and were then published as showing UFOs. Some entirely
fabricated 'voice transmissions' were added to the hoax to give the aura of
authenticity, but these 'transmissions' used jargon and gobbledegook completely
different from the terminology employed by real space people. This hoax has
been widely accepted as authentic and has appeared in Japanese, French, New
Zealand, and Russian UFO publications as well as in leading UFO books and magazines
in the United States; it is the source of the front-page story of UFOs and Apollo-11
which appeared in a weekly American tabloid newspaper in the summer of 1979.
No effort was made by any users of the story to contact NASA and seek alternate
explanations for the totally fallacious claims.
25/
07:13 to 07:18
Observers have wondered why the Apollo lunar expeditions were obviously not
exciting enough for some agencies in the pub-lications industry, who preferred
myths to realities -- and deliberately helped create the myths.
26/
07:18 to 07:48
During the ascent of Apollo-11 from the moon, a UFO allegedly flew past their
spacecraft. Watch for it in the lower left corner of the window. In fact, it's
a particle of ice shot out of one of the control rocket thrusters which is locatedat
that point -- and you will notice a second piece of ice emerging from exactly
the same point, right at the end of this sequence.
27-28/07:48
to 08:00
Astronauts working inside the lunar module as it orbits the moon. This was Apollo-10,
which is the alleged scene for yet another 'astronaut UFO encounter
29/
08:00 to 08:06
30/ 08:05 to 08:16
This view is from an automatic camera in the window of the lunar module, watching
the Command Module during rendezvous maneuvers. Watch the lower left -- an object
drifts upwards to center top. Such particles drifting off the exterior of the
spacecraft, or floating around inside the spacecraft be-tween
the camera and the window, are not at all uncommon; yet selected views of such
events can and have been widely pub-lished as 'UFOs'.
31-32/08:16
to 08:36
Here's a few of another such particle coming by, which was large enough for
its shape to be clearly discernable: it was a "horse-shoe crab" UFO, perhaps?
No, such material was much more prosaic, and was usually ice flaking off the
interior of leaking rocket nozzles. This particular view has not been
published before, although it and the tens of thousands of photographs on file
in Houston can be easily inspected by newsmen and researchers.
33/
08:36 to 08:41
This is a complete view of the lunar module prior to its descent to the
surface of the moon.
34/
08:41 to 09:06
Here is a view of some spacecraft approaching the lunar module; although it
is not clear what the object is at first, what is apparent is that hand-held
shots of real external objects will follow this bouncy pattern -- a pattern
which other 'alleged UFO movies' do not at all follow. And in this case, as
the object nears, you can see what it is: the com-mand module which the astronauts
are about to safely dock with.
35/
09:06 to 09:23
Some people have claimed that the moonwalks were staged in Nevada somewhere.
This shot of the lunar rover in action shows gravity dynamics which cannot be
duplicated on Earth. More clearly, look at the way the lunar soil fails back
to the ground when it is kicked up by the wheels -- there is no dust cloud,
no
swirling air-carried puff of smoke: these shots had to have been made in a vacuum.
36-37/
09:23 to 09:41
The end of a successful lunar expedition, as the bizarre lunar module spacecraft
returns to the command module.
38-39/09:41
to 10:03
Watch the object in the upper left. It is not a nearby UFO, but is a quarter
million miles away: the Earth. On one flight, the moon's reflection off the
Indian Ocean was reported as a strange light "between us and the Earth". [Note
added in 1997: When challenged about this identification by Donald Ratsch, I
checked the trajectory and photo sequences and confirmed that this image could
NOT be "Earth", as I had been told by the photo technicians who prepared this
film sequence -- and as I had repeated without personally
verifying it. I then checked with all three crewmembers, whom I know personally,
and none of them recalled seeing anything strange at this point in the flight,
or noticing this apparition during later reviews of visual materials. It has
now been suggested that this is a reflection of the sunlit lens of the hand-held
camera, in the Apollo window, and indeed the shadow does appear to move on the
shape as if it were moving slightly. It remains unidentified, but since there's
no evidence it is an object (as opposed to a
visual impression) it's not a "UFO" in my book!]
40/ 10:03 to 10:13
Leaving the moon behind, perhaps we can leave these myths and mysteries of UFOs
where they belong: in the realm of fantasy and imagination. The key point to
be stressed here is that dozens of these stories have sprung up and flourished
in the UFO world and in the mass media as well. Observers may
suspect that among "so many stories", some (perhaps one or two) just have to
be authentic -- perhaps from among those not shown here. That is not true, but
one cannot prove a negative. What can (and probably has) been proven is that
these UFO stories are characteristically based on credulous exaggerations, dis-tortions,
misinterpretations, and outright frauds -- and that no attempt has been made
to verify them or to inform the public.
41/10:13
to 10:29
Let's get our feet back on the ground as we return to Earth.