CNN has a story about an Apollo 14 astronaut who is pitching the cause of UFOs and other life out there. The specific story sounds a bit odd but the bigger story about life beyond earth doesn't strike me as odd in any way. Are there people who really think there's no life beyond our little planet? It wouldn't surprise me if the knuckle-dragging religious right are terrified of the subject but beyond that, don't most people believe others are out there? Who knows whether there have been visitors or whether the sitings are simply military projects but either way it strikes me as possible. Why not? Of course living in the land of the Coneheads, maybe I don't get the controversy.
Mankind has long wondered if we're "alone in the universe. [But] only in our period do we really have evidence. No, we're not alone," Mitchell said.
"Our destiny, in my opinion, and we might as well get started with it, is [to] become a part of the planetary community. ... We should be ready to reach out beyond our planet and beyond our solar system to find out what is really going on out there."
Mitchell grew up in Roswell, New Mexico, which some UFO believers maintain was the site of a UFO crash in 1947. He said residents of his hometown "had been hushed and told not to talk about their experience by military authorities." They had been warned of "dire consequences" if they did so.
