Upcoming 50th Anniversary -- First astronaut UFO sighting?

Shortly it will be the fiftieth anniversary of Gordon Cooper's Mercury-9 spaceflight.

Cooper's flight marked the first unambiguous claim of a UFO sighting in space.

Cooper himself has subsequently denied it, but I'm still not satisfied we understand where the story CAME from.

My suspicion is that Clark McClelland, a technician at Cape Canaveral and a secret NICAP operative, sent the story to Keyhoe who released it in Washington.

I've asked Clark this, but he hasn't responded:

Quite an anniversary coming up in a few days. Since you told JFK about astronaut UFO encounters on Mercury flights, I'm assuming it was you who informed Keyhoe about the UFO that Gordo saw on MA-9, the one NBC reported but was officially denied -- can you confirm that please, for the sake of history? Frank Edwards is getting the credit for disclosing it, but he wouldn't have known anything if you hadn't passed the word from inside the Cape, isn't that right?

I'm dismissing the story as a hoax, but then, I would. More to the point, how did the story start?

reply to post by JimOberg


You suspect this about Clark, but how do you know that he was a secret NICAP operative? Just curious.

I don't know if I would call it a hoax or just a myth.

Originally posted by wtbengineer
reply to post by JimOberg

 

You suspect this about Clark, but how do you know that he was a secret NICAP operative? Just curious.

I don't know if I would call it a hoax or just a myth.

edit on 5/9/2013 by wtbengineer because: (no reason given)

He has made that claim for years, and showed his membership card pdfs at his website.

The closest he has come to claiming credit for it, is his story about meeting JFK at the Cape and handing him a letter detailing astronaut UFO sightings on every Mercury mission -- I recall he claimed that explicitly. Since that occurred in November 1963, Cooper's mission was in the preceding time period.

Since I'm the arch-disbeliever in the Mercury-9 UFO [which even Gordon Cooper denied], I'm obligated to share what is the first-ever time AFAIK that somebody says explicitly that they heard Cooper himself make the claim.

We can discuss how far this story is verification of the event or just another much-later false memory. Either way, it deserves wider attention.

Amazon reader review of Leap of Faith....
www.amazon.com...=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_btm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0060194162#wasThisHelpful

By electronic shopper on June 20, 2017

This Book is great.

i worked off and on with him in Downey 1n 1966 when I was a technician on the Apollo command module in Downey bldg.290 performing integrated checkout on the bird. he was an interesting fellow and I decided to read book. He was One of the former Mercury Astronaut. the other astronauns had an agreement with a publisher not to discus their space experiences. Cooper was different he did talk about it.There was a newspaper article that Gordon Cooper “had seen a glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his capsule” in space. Gordon Cooper the astronaut told me he did saw some object in space and it scared him. The mercury spacecraft could only carried one Astronaut into space and he was alone with that thing. I asked him for how long. He said the object came right next to the mercury spacecraft a few yards away and stayed there for about a day (20 plus hours) then it left quickly. He was sweating when he told me the tale. I asked him if it was saucer shape. He said no but it was a larger than the mercury spacecraft and he said it was bell shaped, more cylinder than bell and it was not greenish glowing, it was metallic. He wouldn’t give me any more details and dropped the subject. Gordon cooper was a back up crew member for Apollo One and 10, and then he left NASA. I guess because he would not keep quiet about the UFO he saw. Cooper spent 222 hours in space on Mercury Freedom 7 and Gemini 6 Missions

I was surprised because this conversation just came out of the blue and it was totally unexpected. I know he slipped and told me this story in confidence. I did not tell anybody about this conversation, because I did not want to discredit myself or this astronaut. This is not a common believable topic. I also thought that I would lose my security clearances if anyone found out. I tried not to remember and or think about it. I had forgotten the name of the Astronaut because I have a hard time remembering people’s name. But I remember and found the newspaper article about the green object seen by the astronaut in the mercury capsule in the internet-it jog my memory. It refers to Gordon Cooper and I am now positive it was Cooper. In Gordon Cooper’s book “Leap of Faith” he denied it happened. I guess somebody got to him or he was pulling my leg. LOL

What should we make of this?

a reply to: JimOberg

Why don't you mail him and ask why he left NASA so soon after?

originally posted by: hiddenNZ
a reply to: JimOberg

Why don't you mail him and ask why he left NASA so soon after?

If you visited the Amazon link you'd see I have messaged him, but have no other clue to contacting him.