When the Apollo 16 mission was preparing to return back from the Moon on April 27, 1972 ....
.... from a command/service module window they filmed about four seconds of video footage, of an object that looked like a UFO.
It was described by later film viewers as looking like "a saucer-shaped object with a dome on top". In fact there is no evidence that the Apollo 16 crew ever thought the film showed anything special at the time. In the film it initially disappears from view, but it later reappeared as the camera pans back. In all it appeared in about 50 frames of the 16mm film.
This of course was later picked up by the UFO and conspiracy theory groups as evidence of aliens observing our tentative first steps in space or that the US government had secret craft already up there.
NASA eventually was forced to deny both these theories and examine the image more closely.
Sadly for all those who love these claims of alien involvement with earth, this examination very quickly offered an alternative to all the wilder theories. In fact they showed rather conclusively that in fact rather than being an unidentified flying object, it was in fact an identifiable object.
The enhanced Apollo 16 image (lower left) compared with features of the EVA floodlight/boom from the perspective of a Command/Service Module window (lower right), indicated that the film had simply caught the floodlight/boom from their own command module glinting in the moonlight.
Now I am sure that this evidence will not satisfy the hardcore Ufologists but it'll do for me ....
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| The Apollo 16 Images That Sparked The Debate ...... |
.... from a command/service module window they filmed about four seconds of video footage, of an object that looked like a UFO.
It was described by later film viewers as looking like "a saucer-shaped object with a dome on top". In fact there is no evidence that the Apollo 16 crew ever thought the film showed anything special at the time. In the film it initially disappears from view, but it later reappeared as the camera pans back. In all it appeared in about 50 frames of the 16mm film.
This of course was later picked up by the UFO and conspiracy theory groups as evidence of aliens observing our tentative first steps in space or that the US government had secret craft already up there.
NASA eventually was forced to deny both these theories and examine the image more closely.
Sadly for all those who love these claims of alien involvement with earth, this examination very quickly offered an alternative to all the wilder theories. In fact they showed rather conclusively that in fact rather than being an unidentified flying object, it was in fact an identifiable object.
 |
| The Floodlight Boom (credit NASA). |
The enhanced Apollo 16 image (lower left) compared with features of the EVA floodlight/boom from the perspective of a Command/Service Module window (lower right), indicated that the film had simply caught the floodlight/boom from their own command module glinting in the moonlight.
Now I am sure that this evidence will not satisfy the hardcore Ufologists but it'll do for me ....
It's nice to have some light shed on the mystery. Some Ufologist can sleep easier tonight.
ReplyDeleteIt always turns out to be a rather prosaic explanation.
DeleteWhy can't we see the service module on the photo you show, while the command module is seen in oblique?
ReplyDeleteWell I am assuming the image was from when the lunar lander was returning to the command module, but I'm no expert and I am only showing the existing NASA explanation image illustrating the floodlight boom arm that was caught in the image.
DeleteIf you prefer alien conspiracy theory, then obviously you can interpret the NASA explanation as part of the conspiracy of silence,
Thanks for the comment.