Fact check: Buzz Aldrin did not claim to have seen aliens while heading to the Moon

DMaxer · Guru

David Grusch - UFO Whistleblower

Are We Lost · Guru

It was actually a serious request, not intended to be fodder for comedy. I did apologise for posting something that led the conversation away from the intent of you raising the subject.

Santa · Guru

An interesting subject.

I remain highly skeptical re alien visits, there is never any conclusive proof, always hearsay accompanied by poor quality images, I'm open to being convinced, however nothing I've seen or heard so far has even come close.

This a question I posed to ChatGPT and the response, all seems pretty cut and dried.

Is there any concrete proof of aliens having visited earth

ChatGPT

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, there is no concrete scientific proof that extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth. While there have been numerous claims and reports of UFO sightings and encounters with aliens, none of them have been substantiated with irrefutable evidence.

The scientific community generally requires rigorous empirical evidence before accepting extraordinary claims. To date, there has been no verifiable physical evidence, such as spacecraft debris or biological samples, that definitively prove the presence of extraterrestrial life on Earth.

However, it's worth mentioning that the absence of proof is not equivalent to proof of absence. The universe is vast, and it is statistically likely that life exists elsewhere. Scientists continue to search for signs of extraterrestrial life through various means, such as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program, the study of extremophiles on Earth, and the exploration of other planets and moons in our solar system.

If there were ever credible evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, it would undoubtedly be a groundbreaking discovery and receive significant attention from the scientific community and the public. Until such evidence emerges, the existence of extraterrestrial visitation remains speculative and not supported by scientific consensus.

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 19th of June 2023 12:28:30 PM

Possum3 · Guru

Wandjina paintings of "Spacemen" according to Eric von Deniken in Chariots of the Gods. www.booktopia.com.au/chariots-of-the-gods-erich-von-daniken/book/9780451490032.html%20-%20AU%20-%20Shopping&utm_term=4585169650599087&utm_content=All%20Custom%20Label

www.bing.com/images/search%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F8d%2F33%2Faf%2F8d33af66c26d96da3e0353755b4ae6e8.jpg&exph=941&expw=766&q=kimberley+paintings+wandjina&simid=607993195835708702&form=IRPRST&ck=726908731E1FE563BDA708DD12B2A3B4&selectedindex=0&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0=11

Santa · Guru

Carl Sagan had a pretty poor opinion of von Däniken.

He (von Däniken) was also convicted of fraud and embezzlement.

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken was born in Switzerland in 1935, raised a strict Catholic, and in Catholic school developed an interest in UFOs, like many youths in the early 1950s. He had a criminal record. He was convicted of theft when he was 19, and he left school to become a hotelier. He was convicted of embezzlement after leaving that job. He took another hotel position, and he stole money there, too, by falsifying records in order to obtain tens of thousands in fraudulent loans to finance his interest in space aliens and what the court later called his playboy lifestyle. The court psychiatrist declared him a pathological liar. Eventually, he would be convicted of embezzlement and fraud yet again, serving a year in prison.

Logical and factual errors

That writing as careless as von Däniken's, whose principal thesis is that our ancestors were dummies, should be so popular is a sober commentary on the credulousness and despair of our times. I also hope for the continuing popularity of books like Chariots of the Gods? in high school and college logic courses, as object lessons in sloppy thinking. I know of no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of von Däniken.^[19]
Carl Sagan, Foreword to The Space Gods Revealed

-- Edited by Santa on Monday 19th of June 2023 01:50:57 PM

Craig1 · Guru

Who really built The assorted Pyramids ?

Santa · Guru

Craig1 wrote:
Who really built The assorted Pyramids ?

"The assorted Pyramids" guess you mean the pyramids in Egypt.

Well, it certainly wasn't aliens.

This from ChatGPT is pretty well on the money.

Who built the pyramids in Egypt?

ChatGPT

The pyramids in Egypt were built by ancient Egyptians during the Old Kingdom period, specifically between 2600 BC and 2500 BC. The construction of the pyramids was a massive undertaking and required a considerable amount of manpower, organization, and engineering skills. The workers who built the pyramids were predominantly skilled Egyptian laborers, including stonemasons, quarry workers, and other craftsmen.

The construction of the pyramids was overseen by pharaohs, who commissioned these monumental structures as their tombs. The most famous pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza, were built under the rule of Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. These pyramids were part of large complexes that included temples, causeways, and smaller satellite pyramids.

The precise methods and techniques used to build the pyramids are still a subject of study and debate among historians and Egyptologists. However, it is generally believed that the construction involved a combination of skilled labor, ramps, and tools such as copper chisels, wooden sledges, and ropes. The exact process varied over time, and new discoveries and research continue to shed light on the construction techniques employed by the ancient Egyptians.

Aussie1 · Guru

Santa wrote:

Is there any concrete proof of aliens having visited earth

Exactly, no, there is not. just like no proof that invisible guy in the sky ever visited earth either. But it does provide a terrific avenue for "churches' to reel in money from, (in my opinion) the gullible

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

At the risk of being told I am nuts this is my experience. Part of my working life I was a long distance truck driver and in the early 1980's I was driving to a property n/e of Normanton. Two of us in the truck. South of Normanton we stopped for the night on the side of the road and while waiting to go to sleep saw out the front window some moving lights.

We noticed that these lights, three of them, could shoot across the sky and stop immediately. Then hover for a short time then disappear over the horizon. This went on for a long time until we went to sleep. There is still nothing on earth that can travel at these speed and stop suddenly.

Second time was driving between Muttaburra and Hughenden. In those days it was just two wheel tracks in the grass at the Muttaburra end. At night again, part way between the two towns I noticed a red light off to my right that I thought was a plane. After a bit I realized that it was staying parrallel to me and at my speed and the light was not flashing like a plane. This light stayed with me for at least half an hour then just disapeared.
Was not a plane.

Laugh all you like but I know what I saw.

Barry

Santa · Guru

Karl Marx said words to the affect that "religion ... is the opiate of the masses"

Of course in 1882 Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed "god is dead"

Both statements are valid in their own way. smile

Santa · Guru

BAZZA44 wrote:
At the risk of being told I am nuts this is my experience. Part of my working life I was a long distance truck driver and in the early 1980's I was driving to a property n/e of Normanton. Two of us in the truck. South of Normanton we stopped for the night on the side of the road and while waiting to go to sleep saw out the front window some moving lights.

We noticed that these lights, three of them, could shoot across the sky and stop immediately. Then hover for a short time then disappear over the horizon. This went on for a long time until we went to sleep. There is still nothing on earth that can travel at these speed and stop suddenly.

Second time was driving between Muttaburra and Hughenden. In those days it was just two wheel tracks in the grass at the Muttaburra end. At night again, part way between the two towns I noticed a red light off to my right that I thought was a plane. After a bit I realized that it was staying parrallel to me and at my speed and the light was not flashing like a plane. This light stayed with me for at least half an hour then just disapeared.
Was not a plane.

Laugh all you like but I know what I saw.

Barry

Perhaps it was the Min Min light. wink

Aussie1 · Guru

BAZZA44 wrote:
At the risk of being told I am nuts this is my experience. Part of my working life I was a long distance truck driver and in the early 1980's I was driving to a property n/e of Normanton. Two of us in the truck. South of Normanton we stopped for the night on the side of the road and while waiting to go to sleep saw out the front window some moving lights.

We noticed that these lights, three of them, could shoot across the sky and stop immediately. Then hover for a short time then disappear over the horizon. This went on for a long time until we went to sleep. There is still nothing on earth that can travel at these speed and stop suddenly.

Second time was driving between Muttaburra and Hughenden. In those days it was just two wheel tracks in the grass at the Muttaburra end. At night again, part way between the two towns I noticed a red light off to my right that I thought was a plane. After a bit I realized that it was staying parrallel to me and at my speed and the light was not flashing like a plane. This light stayed with me for at least half an hour then just disapeared.
Was not a plane.

Laugh all you like but I know what I saw.

Barry

Oh, I'm laughing alright. Great story biggrin

DMaxer · Guru

Santa, do you see the irony in stating you are a non believer yet relying upon artificial intelligence to support your view?

What if these things the military are reporting are in fact controlled by artificial intelligence. What would you expect the reply to be? confuse confuse confuse

Aussie1, I imagine you would have also roared with laughter when electric vehicles, renewable energy, gay rights, climate change, and indigenous people having a voice.

Tell me, how did all those things pan out. Still laughing old chap?

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:44:26 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:46:50 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 10:08:14 AM

dorian · Guru

DMaxer wrote:
If you are interested, have a look at the reports on Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. In short, a fellow and his wife bought a cattle property and were surprised to see all the doors were internally bolted and windows all nailed shut. Some months later they began seeing animals that were attacking their stock and when they shot these animals at close range, the bullets bounced off. they found cattle that had been operated on and various body parts surgically removed yet no trace of blood. they sold the property and it was purchased by Robert Bigelow, a billionaire hotel chain owner who was a total sceptic. He brought in Harvard academics and NASA scientists who literally observed orbs and flying craft and portals where things seemed to disappear. He has made a few documentaries on this and has now sold the property. It is now a no go area run by the US military. Have they gone into cattle farming? They have poured over 100 million dollars into it, that is the figure disclosed so far. No wonder meat is so expensive.

I read Wikipedia's article on the matter and didn't see any mention of ownership by the US military. I have extracted some disjointed excerpts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinwalker_Ranch

In 2005, Colm Kelleher and co-author George Knapp published a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker, in which they describe the ranch being acquired by Bigelow to study anecdotal sightings of UFOs, bigfoot-like creatures, crop circles, glowing orbs and poltergeist activity reported by its former owners.

Kelleher and Knapp's book was read by Defense Intelligence Agency official James Lacatski, who reached out to Bigelow and got permission to visit the ranch. Lacatski had a supernatural experience there, which Bigelow relayed to his friend Harry Reid. Reid and Ted Stevens, a UFO experiencer, quickly agreed that the ranch deserved attention and inserted a line into the Department of Defense budget appropriating $22 million to study the ranch.

In 2016, Bigelow sold Skinwalker Ranch to Adamantium Real Estate LLC. After this purchase, roads leading to the ranch were blocked, the perimeter was guarded by cameras and barbed wire, and signs were posted that aimed to prevent people from approaching the ranch.

In March 2020, Brandon Fugal, 46, Utah real estate tycoon, announced ownership of the ranch. In 2022, Fugal announced a partnership with the Hutchings Museum Institute in Lehi, Utah designed to "better understand the environment and historical significance" of the ranch.

According to skeptical author Robert Sheaffer, "the 'phenomenon' at Skinwalker is almost certainly illusory. Not only was the several-years-long monitoring of 'Skinwalker' by NIDSci unable to obtain proof of anything unusual happening, but also, the people who owned the property prior to the Shermans, a family whose members lived there 60 years, deny that any mysterious 'phenomena' of any kind occurred there". Sheaffer says "the parsimonious explanation is that the supernatural claims about the ranch were made up by the Sherman family prior to selling it to the gullible Bigelow". Sheaffer wrote that many of the more extraordinary claims originated solely from Terry Sherman, who worked as a caretaker after the ranch was sold to Bigelow.

dogbox · Guru

BAZZA44 wrote:

At the risk of being told I am nuts this is my experience. Part of my working life I was a long distance truck driver and in the early 1980's I was driving to a property n/e of Normanton. Two of us in the truck. South of Normanton we stopped for the night on the side of the road and while waiting to go to sleep saw out the front window some moving lights.

We noticed that these lights, three of them, could shoot across the sky and stop immediately. Then hover for a short time then disappear over the horizon. This went on for a long time until we went to sleep. There is still nothing on earth that can travel at these speed and stop suddenly.

Second time was driving between Muttaburra and Hughenden. In those days it was just two wheel tracks in the grass at the Muttaburra end. At night again, part way between the two towns I noticed a red light off to my right that I thought was a plane. After a bit I realized that it was staying parrallel to me and at my speed and the light was not flashing like a plane. This light stayed with me for at least half an hour then just disapeared.

Was not a plane.

Laugh all you like but I know what I saw.

Barry

there are a few of us nutters around! while trucking on thru the nite up around Mckinlay QLD i had a light approach from behind i though it was a motorcycle, i though why would anyone ride a motor cycle out here at high speed in the middle of the nite, it followed close i could see it in the mirror, then when it looked like it was going to overtake i looked out the window an where it should have been it was gone, i though they must have dropped back behind trailer to avoid any animal strikes happened about 3 times ended up pulling over and there was nothing to be seen any where.
strange things in the night

DMaxer · Guru

Robert Sheaffer is a well known sceptic Dorian. He is wheeled out whenever any claims are ,made about paranormal activity.

Like everyone else, he is entitled to his opinion. It is great to know that we have people like him about who take pictures and write books for a living and also can explain all the things that leading military and physicists are unable to do. What scientific qualifications does he hold I wonder.

I read something a few weeks ago that I am sure said the ranch is owned by the military. I do remember that they certainly have a presence there. As a billionaire owner of a hotel chain, I don't think Bigelow would be too easily conned given he was a sceptic when he purchased it.

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 10:16:59 AM

dorian · Guru

This article sounds compelling, but the bottom line is that a group of highly qualified scientific researchers were unable to back up "100 incidents or anomalies" with "the kind of evidence consistent with scientific publication". And these were people who came equipped with a vast array of scientific instrumentation, video cameras, etc.

https://www.deseret.com/2006/4/22/19949762/mysteries-of-ufo-ranch-in-spotlight#surveillance-and-full-time-caretakers-remain-on-the-ranch-in-fort-duchesne-that-has-become-known-for-paranormal-activity-the-property-is-still-owned-by-the-national-institute-for-discovery-science

Perhaps this statement tells us something about the nature of UFO sightings:

"NIDS [National Institute of Discovery Science] disbanded in 2004, after paranormal phenomenon at the ranch and indeed throughout the nation seemed to dramatically decrease, starting in 2000, Kelleher said."

-- Edited by dorian on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 10:34:38 AM

Aussie1 · Guru

DMaxer wrote:
Santa, do you see the irony in stating you are a non believer yet relying upon artificial intelligence to support your view?
What if these things the military are reporting are in fact controlled by artificial intelligence. What would you expect the reply to be?
Aussie1, I imagine you would have also roared with laughter when electric vehicles, renewable energy, gay rights, climate change, and indigenous people having a voice.
Tell me, how did all those things pan out. Still laughing old chap?

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:44:26 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:46:50 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 10:08:14 AM

Yep, still laughing Cobber, strange analogy you raise there, but here goes: Don't find anything funny about electric cars, renewable energy would make me very happy if it was nuclear (as, in my opinion, it should be). Gay rights, that does make me "roar" with laughter. Climate change, now there is a huge roar with laughter. And I certainly hope I am roaring with laughter after to referendum is defeated.

Happy to report I am still roaring with laughter at that story posted by that guy. it's a real pearler biggrin

Cheers Cobber, and good luck gazing into the solar system biggrin PS. Don't forget to post all evidence of your findings on here for us all to share biggrin

Santa · Guru

DMaxer wrote:
Santa, do you see the irony in stating you are a non believer yet relying upon artificial intelligence to support your view?
What if these things the military are reporting are in fact controlled by artificial intelligence. What would you expect the reply to be?
Aussie1, I imagine you would have also roared with laughter when electric vehicles, renewable energy, gay rights, climate change, and indigenous people having a voice.
Tell me, how did all those things pan out. Still laughing old chap?

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:44:26 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 09:46:50 AM

-- Edited by DMaxer on Tuesday 20th of June 2023 10:08:14 AM

Yep, I'm using artificial intelligence, its a tool, not alien intelligence.

No, I didn't say I was a non believer, what I said was I have an open mind on the subject. wink

"I remain highly skeptical re alien visits, there is never any conclusive proof, always hearsay accompanied by poor quality images, I'm open to being convinced, however nothing I've seen or heard so far has even come close."

Aussie1 · Guru

I will admit and confess though that I am a believer in the Loch Ness monster. Only because of my Scottish heritage mind you. :)

Are We Lost · Guru

What Santa said.

The more our technology grows, the easier it should be to find actual evidence. The more our population grows (in numbers as well as people now in less populated areas), there should be more chance of actual evidence. Yet that has not happened. It appears (if they exist) that aliens don't intend to be discovered. So why do they have lights to increase their visibility? That makes no sense.

So as time goes by my balance between strong skepticism and alien denier is heading further towards disbeliever.

After watching realistic movies of robots fighting, aliens flying on alien creatures and multi jawed creatures attacking humans, would I believe any video that purported to be of real alien life forms or craft?

DMaxer · Guru

That is the whole point Are We Lost. The military people who are coming forward to say they do have the evidence as they were either on a project or are currently engaged in a project.. That is why Grusch has used the provisions of the whistle blower legislation and their testimony will be examined by the congressional committee.

There have been heaps of film of ufo sightings taken by civilians. The ones by the military however, with the exception of the video released from the USS Ronald Regan, are all classified. As the legislation compelled all evidence to be placed before the congressional committee these people are alleging that the evidence they have has not been put forward.

The subject is not about something existing or not, it is a question of why it wasn't produced as required by the legislation.

Are We Lost · Guru

With the growing trend to share every tidbit of dailiy life as it happens, I would expect someone, somewhere with a smart phone would have photographed or more likely videod it, then shared their encounter online with a group of friends inside the next 30 seconds. Once it's out there, there is no stopping it.

shakey55 · Senior Member

DMaxer wrote:
Au contraire! Have a read about what happened at Rendlesham Forest in the UK in the early 1980s. Better still, have a little read about Westall High School in Melbourne where teachers and students witnessed the landing of an UFO closely followed by police and military. According to reports they have retrieved downed craft and occupants. The US military have already admitted they dont know what these UAP are. Do a little research online.

I looked at a YouTube article by channel seven, recorded two years ago or so about this and interviewed the teacher, Andrew Greenwood. When asked about about it he described it as cylindrical like a cigar. The students, now adults were asked to draw what they saw and all drew a spaceship like seen on TV movies, round like a saucer.

Totally different to what the only adult (Greenwood) on site at the time says he saw.

Obviously all experimenting with LSD in the 60s

-- Edited by shakey55 on Wednesday 21st of June 2023 05:11:19 AM

DMaxer · Guru

They were kids aged about 10 years old. It happened during recess.

peter67 · Guru

There were frequently reported sighting by airline pilots all over the world, particularly by airline pilots flying between bthe north and south islands of new Zealand a few years ago.

ps maybe the aliens watched the 1996 Hollywood movie Mars Attacks and decided if that's the best we can do they'll give us a miss, they are after all, intelligent.

Collo · Senior Member

As Dylan Moran once said "No alien life form would attack Earth....they would be sitting back watching how this sh%t ends up".

Collo.

peter67 · Guru

DMaxer, I'll have you know that it's still possible to book flat earth cruises, seriously!

DMaxer · Guru

I listened to a podcast where Ross Coulthard, the Australian Four Corners and 60 Minutes journalist who broke the story on David Grusch, was interviewed by Howard Hughes on his podcast, The Unexplained.

Ross Coulthard reports that David Grusch has been interviewed by the Intelligence Director and his testimony has been accepted as "Urgent and Credible". He is now to give evidence to the the Congressional Committee which is comprised of those politicians who have been given the top security clearance. Coulthard also reports that he has been contacted by other military persons of high rank confirming the credibility of David Grusch and his statements. Have a listen to the podcast, it is available on Apple for free,

Another good podcast to listen to is 1001 Heroes, Legends ,Histories and Mysteries that has just released their latest podcast. This one deals with astronauts and their sightings. A number of astronauts from the Mercury and Apollo missions speak of the sightings they experienced. One of the best parts is the claim that the two minutes silence when Eagle was landing on the lunar surface was because Aldrin and Armstrong were describing two alien craft parked on a ridge overlooking the landing spot, watching them exit the Eagle. Supposedly this was picked up by ham operators around Earth and it has never been formally denied by NASA.

I know a few of you are unable to accept any of this as being possible but I also know that quite a few of you are really interested in this and the latest testimony of David Grusch. for those that may be interested, enjoy. For those that are not, well there is always prices charged by caravan parks and WDH to argue about.

Santa · Guru

I know your desperate to believe DMaxer, this report from Reuters doesn't support the claim of aliens on the moon.

Fact check: Buzz Aldrin did not claim to have seen aliens while heading to the Moon

By Reuters Staff

Posts circulating on Facebook in late 2020 and early 2021 claim that Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin Jr., the second person to walk on the moon, claimed that he saw aliens while he was there. According to the posts, Aldrin told nasa (sic) & later took a lie detector test, which he passed. This claim is partly false, as the astronaut did describe seeing an unidentified object moving outside of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, but the sighting was explained soon after the mission returned.

This NASA file image shows U.S. astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, one of three Apollo 11 astronauts, during the lunar landing mission on July 20, 1969. Apollo 11, launched forty years ago today on July 16, 1969, carried astronauts Neil Armstrong, who was the Mission Commander and the first man to step on the moon, Aldrin, who was the Lunar Module Pilot, and Michael Collins, who was the Command Module pilot. Armstrong was the photographer for this image. REUTERS/Neil Armstrong-NASA/Handout

Recent examples of posts can be found here and here . Posts making this claim appeared on Facebook as far back as 2015 (here).

Some iterations here include an image of an astronaut standing near a crater on the moon with a ball of light in the distance that has been circled in red.

This image does not show Aldrin, but rather Charles M. Duke, Jr., the lunar module pilot who crewed the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, collecting lunar samples near the rim of Plum Crater. Provided by NASA, the original photo, taken by Apollo 16s commander John W. Young, can be found here . As for the light in the background , acting NASA chief historian Brian Odom (here) told Reuters via phone that it is a lens flare from the sun (here).

Aldrin was not on the Apollo 16 mission, but rather the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, joined by Commander Neil A. Armstrong and command module pilot Michael Collins ( here , here ).

In a 2014 Ask Me Anything discussion hosted by Aldrin on Reddit (here), the former astronaut answered a users question Do you believe in aliens and what are the sightings you saw aboard Apollo 11? with a description of a light out the window that appeared to be moving alongside us (here).

There were many explanations of what that could be, other than another spacecraft from another country or another world - it was either the rocket we had separated from, or the 4 panels that moved away when we extracted the lander from the rocket and we were nose-to-nose with the two spacecraft, Aldrin wrote.

Aldrin then stated that when the mission returned to earth, we debriefed and explained exactly what we had observed: the sun reflected off of one of these panels. Not knowing that the public was not aware of this information, Aldrin explained, he described his observations many years later in a television interview. Aldrin wrote on Reddit that the UFO people in the United States were very very angry with him for allegedly withholding the information, even though what he observed was not an alien.

Claims that Aldrin saw a UFO during the first moon landing went viral almost three years ago, and was fact-checked by both USA Today (here) and the Washington Post (here).

According to both outlets, the claim about the lie detector stemmed from an April 2018 story in the British tabloid The Daily Star (here) that centered on a vocal analysis done by the Institute of BioAcoustic Biology and Sound Health, an organization based in Ohio (here) that carried out complex computer analyses of the astronauts voice patterns as they told of their close encounters.

Back in 2007, NASA itself responded to a person linking to a now-removed YouTube video allegedly showing Buzz Aldrin saying he saw a UFO on Apollo 11 and asking the question Whos fibbing, NASA or the Great American hero, Buzz Aldrin? (here).

The fibbing is being done by the producers of this video, Senior NASA scientist David Morrison (here) wrote back. I just talked to Buzz Aldrin on the phone, and he notes that the quotations were taken out of context and did not convey the intended meaning, Morrison stated.

According to Morrison, the Apollo 11 crew chose not to discuss the observation about the panels on the open communications channel since they were concerned that their comments might be misinterpreted (as they are being now). Aldrin reportedly told Morrison that the discussion about the panels was cut from the broadcast interview, thus giving the impression that they had seen a UFO.

A transcript of the technical air-to-ground voice from the Apollo 11 mission is provided here by NASA.

VERDICT

Partly false. Though Aldrin did describe seeing an unidentified object outside the window of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the sighting was explained as the sun reflecting off a panel jettisoned earlier in the flight.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.