Major Gordon Cooper
One of the original Mercury Astronauts and the last American to fly in space alone.
Born March 5th 1927 - Died October 4th 2004
On May 15, 1963 he shot into space in a Mercury capsule for a 22 orbit journey around the world. During the final orbit, Major Gordon Cooper told the tracking station at Muchea (near Perth Australia) that he could see a glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his capsule. The UFO was real and solid, because it was picked up by Muchea's tracking radar.
Cooper's sighting was reported by the National Broadcast Company, which was covering the flight step by step; but when Cooper landed, reporters were told that they would not be allowed to question him about the UFO sighting.
Major Cooper was a firm believer in UFOs. Ten years earlier, in 1951 he had sighted a UFO while piloting an F-86 Sabrejet over Western Germany. They were metallic, saucer-shaped discs at considerable altitude and could out-maneuver all American fighter planes.
Major Cooper also testified before the United Nations:
"I believe that these extra-terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets... Most astronauts were reluctant to discuss UFOs."
"I did have occasion in 1951 to have two days of observation of many flights of them, of different sizes, flying in fighter formation, generally from east to west over Europe."
And according to a taped interview by J. L. Ferrando, Major Cooper said:
"For many years I have lived with a secret, in a secrecy imposed on all specialists in astronautics. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. And there are thousands of witness reports and a quantity of documents to prove this, but nobody wants to make them public.
Why? Because authority is afraid that people may think of God knows what kind of horrible invaders. So the password still is: "We have to avoid panic by all means."
"I was furthermore a witness to an extraordinary phenomenon, here on this planet Earth. It happened in Florida. There I saw with my own eyes a defined area of ground being consumed by flames, with four indentions left by a flying object which had descended in the middle of a field. Beings had left the craft (there were other traces to prove this). They seemed to have studied topography, they had collected soil samples and, eventually, they returned to where they had come from, disappearing at enormous speed...I happen to know that authority did just about everything to keep this incident from the press and TV, in fear of a panicky reaction from the public."
Gordon Cooper wrote a book "Leap of Faith" In which he stated that there has been an official cover-up of UFO's by the Authorities.
He had a major run-in with NASA Management over being allowed to go on the APOLLO missions. He was overlooked - according to reports - because of his outspoken views on UFO's. Both Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell had views on the UFO situation - all NASA employees have to state they will not discuss anything of this nature with anyone.
Gordon Cooper - One of the few Astronauts who have come forward and publicy stated that UFO's are real. WHY is this so ? It's because NASA has told all the Astronauts that IF they speak out they will lose EVERYTHING - I mean it's like this. You MAY lose your life BUT at the very least you will lose all the entitlements you have earned. Lets suppose IF you are someone like Gordon Cooper - NASA will pay - for the rest of your life - Housing - Food - Expenses - Travel - All bills - Until you die - ALL you have to do is SHUT UP. Gordon Cooper probably had his entitlements stripped away by NASA but pushed on - earning money with his book and public appearances - who knows ? I guess he was a brave man. It's why I have posted this up on my web site. I like the underdog - the fighter. Gordon is dead now. Lets remember him as a hero.
What did the other Astronauts have to say ?