Astronauts Debunk NASA 'UFO' Videos

Among UFO conspiracy buffs (those who believe the moon landings were faked, that there's a giant human face built on the surface of Mars, alien life found by NASA, etc.) one common tactic is to review the released raw footage from old space missions frame by frame. If at any point in the often poor-quality films they see something they think is odd, or don't understand, they jump to the conclusion that it must be evidence of alien life.

Recently a man named Martyn Stubb did that, posting several videos (see two below) on YouTube of what he claims is evidence of a NASA coverup.

Now Popular Mechanics magazine has a piece titled, "Footage in the Sky: The Truth Behind NASA's 'UFO' Videos" in which two astronauts involved in those missions discuss the coverup and what's seen in the footage.

Not all astronauts take the attacks in stride; many have been offended by the claim that they faked their accomplishments or are part of a conspiracy. In 2002, UFO conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel confronted astronaut Buzz Aldrin outside a hotel and called him a "coward and a liar" for his role in faking the moon landings. The 72-year-old promptly punched Sibrel in the jaw. Video of the incident:

Curiously, conspiracy believers never seem to wonder why NASA would allow the very photographs and video footage that they think proves their claims to be released. If NASA is involved in a cover-up over alien life or a hoaxed moon landing, you would think that they would carefully (and successfully) suppress any information about things they are trying to hide. But that's too logical.

Maybe it's a double cover-up, and the UFO conspiracy theorists are really on NASA's payroll. They don't really believe that aliens exist. It's all part of a secret plan to make the public believe that extraterrestrials have been contacted, so NASA can request more funding to explore the potential new alien civilizations. It all makes sense.

Here are the two videos that Popular Mechanics debunks:

Benjamin Radford is LiveScience's Bad Science columnist.