Gordon Cooper: Revisited

a reply to: Scdfa

If it were mere delusion, the image of the ship would have changed with our societal perception of what an alien ship should look like. But it hasn't. It's still a flying saucer, which seems antiquated by our current cultural perception.

In fact, there are those deniers who suggest that ufo sightings are just delusions we base on what we see in sci-fi movies. Were that the case, we'd be seeing Klingon battle cruisers, Tie fighters and x-wings. We are not, we see flying saucers.

That's not what a delusion is. A delusion would be a persistent belief even after being shown overwhelming evidence to the contrary. So if someone sees a UFO and believes it to be alien, they would not be delusional since it is unknown. If someone sees an airplane and believes it to be alien, that would be a delusion. Delusions really aren't applicable to the UFO phenomenon since they really are in the realm of mental illness. You might mean "hallucination" but that really doesn't fit either.

You are correct that they wouldn't be based on sci-fi movies either. What we do have is an overwhelming number of books and TV shows promoting ET reality and then we have the aliens forum where people can confirm each others beliefs about ET. Then we have all the hoaxes that many people are willing to believe witch muddy the waters even more. There is so much bad information that circulates endlessly that it is impossible to keep it all straight. And then there is the endless misconceptions with simple concepts like "delusions". And that goes for both sides.

What we have is a mythology.

Jim Oberg is not capable of objective thinking, based on a career of agenda-driven "debunking".

It's basically just pollution to the field. He focuses on the weakest reports, those he knows that can be either debunked or shown to have a few less-than-iron-clad elements, and all of his "research" then goes to confuse the casual outsider, making it look as if the whole field is represented in that way. Clever, but anyone experienced in the field can easily see that it's just a guy with an agenda "pushing open doors" in a hallway with thousands of shut doors untouched by him. An open door is easy to push. Pushing a closed door just makes one look foolish.

Read this.
Skeptic misses the point

In the biographical note appended to his commentary, he notes that he spent 22 years at NASA’s Mission Control and has written books about space policy and exploration. But he neglects to inform readers of something UFO researchers already know all too well: that he is a founding fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, formerly CSICOP), a group whose aim is to debunk UFOs and any other unexplained phenomena that challenge our familiar ways of thinking.

Not sure about Gordon Cooper, but the UFO phenomenon at large is laughably easy to demonstrate as being genuine and of an origin unknown to military intelligence.

originally posted by: nOraKat.....
It is fortunate that many astronauts have come forward to tell their UFO stories. They give some of the most credibility to UFO sightings because their observations are more discerning the the average person. Another Astronaut that has come forward with his stories is Story Musgrave. His was perhaps even a biological entity flying in open space.

Where has Story Musgrave claimed he believed in alien visitors? Are you referring to his 'space snake' stories? He's made it clear he's never seen, or heard of other astronauts seeing, signs of ETI on space missions. Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell have made similar statements. No spaceflight UFOs.

ADD

McDivitt’s own words
www.jamesoberg.com...

Musgrave’s own words
www.jamesoberg.com...

Slayton’s own words
www.jamesoberg.com...

and many more…
www.jamesoberg.com...

a reply to: ZetaRediculian

Yes, in her book The Complete Book of ufos - or was it Abduction, I forget...

a reply to: EnPassant

Well, I will have to take your word for that I guess.

Wouldn't we like to have been a fly on the wall of their off-duty conversations -- Gordon Cooper and Ed Mitchell together on the Apollo-10 backup crew, 1969


www.spacefacts.de...

Lots of other stories from Cooper are summarized here:

www.jamesoberg.com...

Closed for Staff review.

I'm going to reopen this but these personal attacks and insults must stop and this behavior is NOT ALLOWED here at ATS. Any more of that and anyone involved will be Post Banned without warning.

The topic is NEVER another member. Heated debate is fine but insults, accusations and ad hom's are not allowed.

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS POST.



Community Announcement re: Decorum

edit on Sun Jan 4 2015 by DontTreadOnMe because: added mod note

edit on 1/5/2015 by Blaine91555 because: (no reason given)

edit on 1/5/2015 by Blaine91555 because: (no reason given)

This topic just came up on another ufo website I look at called unknown country. I believe Cooper when he said he saw a ufo at Edwards in 1957, and I also believe him when he said he had a friend at Roswell a "fellow officer" who said what crashed was not a balloon but was a craft with alien bodies. I just don't see any motivation for lying about what he had seen or believes. Just my opinion though...

originally posted by: data5091
This topic just came up on another ufo website I look at called unknown country. I believe Cooper when he said he saw a ufo at Edwards in 1957, and I also believe him when he said he had a friend at Roswell a "fellow officer" who said what crashed was not a balloon but was a craft with alien bodies. I just don't see any motivation for lying about what he had seen or believes. Just my opinion though...

Pardon me, but where is there any record Cooper claimed HE saw a UFO at Edwards AFB?

originally posted by: CardDown
I've tried, but can't locate a 1973 New York City UFO conference.
Was the whole thing made up, or is it possible the date or location is in error?

These are the same results others are reporting. There appear to be no press reports, not even in UFO newsletters, about any such conference, much less Cooper's participation. How can we avoid the verdict that the French paranormal magazine 'interview' is entirely bogus, as Cooper himself claimed it was?

Even Richard Dolan has conceded there is no evidence for the quote, which he used in 'The Day Before Disclosure', and now retracts. Good for him!