UFO's, Aliens, Coverups?

This week, I read a news article, where Ed Mitchell, an Apollo moonwalker, claimed that the US Government has known about and covered up alien encounters for the last sixty years. This is astounding and one's first thought is whether or not this person is thinking clearly.

I found these asserions interesting, because another early astronaut, Gordo Cooper (whose first name was Leroy, I being the only other astronaut with that name) made the same assertions years ago. Gordo and Ed both claimed to have chased UFO's in their interceptor jets while on active duty in the US military. Ed claims to have received top secret briefings on the existence of aliens. He also claims that the Roswell incident was a real UFO encounter and that the aliens who have allegedly visited are small in stature with large heads and eyes.

During my four missions in space, I saw a few strange things, but these were probably explainable as either natural phenomena or man-made hardware. I never thought for a minute that any of my sightings were alien spacecraft with living creatures aboard.

Ed's assertions, along with those earlier from Gordo give me reason to pause for a moment. I absolutely believe that there is life elsewhere in the universe, I am however, skeptical that that other life has found and visited us. I do maintain an open mind though.

What do you think?

Leroy Chiao