Earth's exploration of our solar system was taking another giant leap in 1976 with the Viking 1 spacecraft taking the first detailed pictures of our planetary neighbor, Mars, from its own orbit. That leap stumbled upon a shocking potentiality when it took an image of the Cydonia mesa on July 25. While the image was at first ignored as a "trick of the light" by the chief scientist of the Viking program, Gerry Soffen, image 35A72 caught the imagination of a world. Along with nearby features that appeared to be groups of pyramids was a mountain that seemed not only very symmetrical in shape but had the shape, from orbit, of a human-like face!

It was first credited by mainstream scientists to be merely an example of pareidolia, the human mind's ability to see shapes and patters in random imagery, much like pictures in clouds. There are however, a number of factors that can refute this claim of randomness. Additional images of the "face" structure have been taken at different heights, resolutions, and light angles. Even though greater surface detail (the European Space Agency's Mars Express in 2003 to image resolutions as detailed as 46 feet per pixel) did diminish the clarity of a "face" somewhat. It did not diminish the abnormal symmetry of the overall structure. Even if the underlying formations are natural, they have had help in maintaining the integrity of the symmetry that presents a face-like appearance seen from above.

There is also the matter of the "city" just a bit away from the "face" mesa. Contained in this area are structures that have mountains sharply angled to form pyramid shapes. The images of this area were studied extensively by the computer engineers, Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Molenaar. Contacted with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland these men began an attempt to explain the features in a geological sense. Although their research showed anomalies that could not be naturally occurring and sought verification from other scientists, their work was largely ignored.

Former NASA consultant Richard Hoagland, the developer of the Pioneer 10 and 11 interstellar plaques, originally took the official stance that it was all an illusion but later study caused him to about-face and make claim for an artificial nature to the structures. He discovered more pyramidal forms in the "city" part of the area including the structure called "the Fort" for what appears to be a set of straight walls and an open enclosed area. He performed solstice alignment calculations based of the positioning of the pyramidal mounds and their spatial orientations to each other. His calculations of solar alignments have held up to independent critique.

The research scientist, Dr. Mark Carlotto, reexamined the Viking images in 1986-87 utilizing new "shape-from-shading protocols for image enhancement and disproved the "trick of light and shadow" hypothesis. Not only did the enhanced images show many additional symmetrical lines and alignment angles, but that there also appeared that, hidden within the "shadows" of the original image, were structures that looked like teeth in the mouth area.

The geomorphologist and cartographer, Erol Torun, who worked with the United States Defense Mapping Agency released a cartographic/geometric analysis of the D&M pyramid demonstrating that the mountain's angles were unlikely to be obtained in a natural mountain and that no known erosion processes could produce these angles either. Dr. Horace Crater of the University of Tennessee Space Institute also published a mathematical analysis of the numerous small mounds in the area around the "face" and the "city' in 1995. His mathematical calculations discounted the probability that the placement of these mounds/structures were randomly occurring.

The controversy over the origin and composition of the objects at Cydonia rages. While some consider it all light and shadows, others feel this is an extraterrestrial proof that other intelligences have shared our solar system and shaped its planets before us. Whether they are still around, living under the surface of the red planet, or passed into the obscurity of the past will require much more investigation. It should be noted that according to ancient Sumerian texts, Mars was a way station for the Annunaki on their travels between Earth and Nibiru. We know from archeology that the ancient Sumerian culture build vast megalithic structures, many of which still stand today. Could there be a direct link to these structures and pyramids of Mesopotamia and the ones that seem to also stand on Mars?

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Major photographic resource:
NASA's official page containing the images of the Cydonia Region of Mars
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mgs_cydonia.html
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In October 2000, Sharon Rowlands took footage of what she believed to be a UFO. Hearing what she described as an eerie noise from outside the house, one evening, Mrs Rowlands took her camera and aimed it towards the sky. She captured what she described as “a giant disc with a bite taken out of the bottom” hovering in the sky about two miles away.

Reportedly, Sharon Rowlands was offered, £20,000 ($32,000) for the footage by a Hollywood producer and NASA representatives had even asked to examine the video because they believed that they had caught sight of a similar UFO, when on a space shuttle mission.

The story and occurrence caused a massive amount of exposure to the village of Bonsall where the sighting took place. A wave of reporters came and went, as a fascination with the incident built up. Mrs Rowland herself used a still image from the video and talked about the money she had been offered for it over the internet, which created a worldwide interest.

Despite many videos that carried the name, the actual footage of the incident was never released. Sharon Rowlands was contacted by Robert Kiviat, who is a Hollywood producer and he did tell her that he would offer her the money, but as Mrs Rowlands later found out this was all a lie. Robert Kiviat went on to tell Mrs Rowlands that she was going to be offered the money for an exclusive interview that was to be broadcasted on a UFO TV show, which was never made. He also told her that NASA wanted to examine the tape which, Mrs Rowland found out, was another lie.

The story became engulfed in the myth and the ridicule that so often accompanies these sightings. Had Robert Kiviat lived up to his word and been an honest man, the whole case might have produced hard evidence of a UFO encounter. As it was, the infamous footage remains a mystery and the credibility of Mrs Rowlands is shattered.

However, the fact does remain that the footage was filmed and while the myth might have killed off the credibility, the footage itself is evidence of at least something. We may never know whether what Mrs Rowlands filmed was anything more than military aircraft or some sort of weather affect, but what does remain is that myth and fact have to be so clearly segmented when you discuss UFO/Aliens and that lies and greed will continue to plague some of the sightings, we have to take away only what we can prove.

The image of commercial aircraft pilots is one of conservative respectability. There individuals do have the huge task of keeping millions of dollars worth of equipment and the lives of their crew and passengers safe on a daily basis. To this end they are trained extensively. There is an area of their experience that is however not only sorely neglected, but also discouraged from even being talking about. This is the experience roughly one in five pilots has had to deal with at least once in their career; the close encounter with another craft of unidentified nature and origin interacting with the airplane he is flying.

These incidences include such dangerous activity as pacing the aircraft, approaching much too close for safety, and occasionally "buzzing" the aircraft at speed. A search of the NASA administered Aviation Safety Reporting System Database by Dr. Richard F. Haines, a retired scientist and engineer who worked for both the FAA and NASA, turned up over 5,000 "near miss" incident reports by what the pilots steadfastly refused to call "unidentified flying objects." Instead, the "safe" label for these objects has been "unknown aircraft" and "unidentified object." Nearly a thousand of these incident reports showed airplane problems developing from the crews' actions in avoiding collision and over a hundred of them listed system problems and malfunctions caused by the proximity of the "unknown aircraft." Only one report out of the database of 335,000 incidents used the actual term "UFO" to describe the near miss object.

As great as these numbers are in the ASRS Database, the number of actual incidents is greatly underreported. For very real reasons many commercial pilots do not make reports of their sightings in the sky. To begin with, there is no one willing to take such a report and nowhere on the incident forms they must fill out is there a place to report such unidentified aerial phenomena. There is the ingrained stigma against talking about these unusual events as such reporting has been known to cause the pilot to be ridiculed, taken off active flight duty for incompetence, and occasionally fired and blackballed from their career.

NARCAP, the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena has on record the report by one aviator who was subjected to two intense psychological evaluations for merely mentioning an interest in UFO related near misses to a skeptical supervisor. There is also the military angle that keeps commercial pilots from making UFO sighting reports. From 1947 to 1977 all such reports of unusual aerial activity were directed to Air Force investigations with the injunction that to talk publicly about them was a breech of national security and that they and only they were permitted to release an data on UFO sightings. According to Air Force Regulation 200-2 of August 12, 1954:

"Headquarters USAF will release summaries of evaluated data (of UFO), which will inform the public on this subject. In response to local inquiries, it is permissible to inform news media representatives on UFOB's when the object is positively identified as a familiar object. For those objects which are not explainable, only the fact that ATIC will analyze the data is worthy of release, due to the many unknowns involved."

What concerns pilots and to a degree the airline companies and their insurers is that information has always been a one-way street. Nothing comes back to the airlines about what these objects are even when they are often substantiated by radar contacts. Not only are the airlines left with no good strategy for dealing with unknown aerial phenomena, they are discouraged from studying the problem themselves or involving civilian investigative agencies.

So every day around the world pilots and their passengers take off into the sky without proper preparation or knowledge of what they may encounter. They fly with no safety precautions in place to deal with a near miss from an "unidentified object" or the system malfunctions that have been reported to happen sometimes when an airplane is "buzzed." With the emphasis on denying the reality of the event, aircraft pilots are left no better than their passengers as to how to handle an unexpected encounter with a UFO and air travel is just that much less safe because of it.

As they aged and their careers were less likely to be affected by revealing, even a bit, of their knowledge, a number of America's astronauts have let it be known that we are not alone in the universe. Several of these American heroes have stated that every space mission was observed either at a distance or close-up by alien craft. "Santa Claus" became the code word for the sighting of an unknown spacecraft so that the common citizens of Earth would not "panic" at the thought of superior technological entities being in our space. Even Neil Armstrong admitted that other huge vessels joined the first Earth vessel, Eagle One, while they were on the lunar surface.

Despite the sometimes obvious airbrushing of sections of the moon's surface in photographs taken by satellites and orbiting humans, it becomes a growing knowledge that our moon has been the home to an advanced alien race for a long time. Photographic evidence, especially taken from the far side of the moon has revealed geometric structures, artifacts, craft, and indications of a very long-term presence of some intelligence there. What appear to be circular transparent domes have been seen to glow with an internal light. People who have worked in and around NASA and the NSA have come forward with their stories of the insider knowledge of these bases.

There is even a series of popular video, taken during a Lunar Mission that was not supposed to have occurred, that shows we actually went back to take a close-up look at one of the ancient abandoned cities whose ruins are still standing. The skeptics say "there was no Apollo 20 flight" and it is true that NASA, the CIVILIAN SPACE PROGRAM, did not undertake this effort. However, at the end of NASA's moon missions at least two Saturn V rockets were already complete and others well into their construction. Florida is not the only place in the United States that rockets are launched. Among the many units assigned to the Vanderburg Air Force Base in California is the 30th Space Wing.

Military space launches are routine from Vandenburg as are rocket tests. It is rumored that the unused Saturn V rockets were taken there and the two missions to explore the alien ruins on the moon were launched with no publicity. The locals are used to rockets heading out from there and know better than to inquire as to the purpose. Anomalous activity on the lunar surface is not confined to the far side. Even amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes have often seen moving lights and other indications of activity on the moon. While the video from Apollo 20 is of an ancient ruin, there is rumor and indications that there are also more recent bases and mining facilities in evidence. As long as it seems some of these objects seem to have been in existence, it is no wonder they consider the moon at least to be theirs and, as Neil Armstrong put it, "the fact is, we were warned off! There was never any question then of a space station or a moon city."

Beyond a few subsequent, quick, lunar visits, humanity's journeys into space have been pretty well kept to our own planet's orbit. While unmanned robotic probes have been launched to the other planets, many have mysteriously quit working and others have seemingly been well guided to make sure nothing has been made public to "disturb" the Earth folk. But, if we have stayed out of the greater depths to our own solar system does this mean that an alien presence considers it their property and us indigenous creatures merely, as yet undomesticated, property on the planet we call home?

There are so many choices when you search for UFO DVDs online. You can get anywhere from the absurd to the insane. With choices ranging from movies to documentaries, there’s just about something for every possible UFO fanatic out there whether a believer or not. So here is a guide of some of the best UFO DVDs that will illuminate us to their elusive and mysterious ways.

If you want a very good documentary with images and material about the “Phoenix Lights,” that will give you a good understanding of the incident, pick up the documentary “Phoenix Lights… We Are Not Alone.” It is based on actual events that took place and were documented by the media and written about in the bestselling book, and includes eyewitness accounts and testimonials that will amaze you and make you wonder how anyone can deny the proof of the existence of Aliens.

If you want some information about NASA and the things that they refuse to reveal to the world, take a look at “Evidence: The Case for NASA UFOs.” In this documentary DVD, David Sereda shows and explains bizarre NASA footage that was captured with infrared cameras during several shuttle missions. You don’t need to have a physics degree to understand the scientific logic he uses to explain the concepts that will make your imagination reel when looking at the evidence.

If you’re looking for some great footage of UFOs, then you’ll love “Ultimate UFO – The Complete Evidence.” This has some of the best footage. From NASA clips to hugely obvious fakes, you’ll at once be amazed and rolling in fits of laughter. It is a comprehensive mix of almost all of the UFO evidence out there.

Where Do UFOs really come from? In “Archetype of the UFO” You may be surprised to hear that UFOs may come from an alternate reality. Or maybe they are just some forgotten archetype pulled from inside the subconscious mind. If you are interested in exploring the possibilities, you’ll want to get this DVD. It also explores the alien abduction mysteries and what may happen in 2012.

For the most spectacular UFO footage ever caught on video during the 1990’s, check out “Best UFO Videos of the 90’s” This 10-year period has been hailed as the best decade for evidence on videotape and proof of the Alien presence in our skies. You can see the details of the filmed events as they occurred. It is an unprecedented collection of UFO footage. There are interviews with witnesses and researchers. And you will be hard-pressed to keep hold of any idea that UFOs are anything but extraterrestrial intelligence.
For the truth seeker, you can uncover “UFO: The Secret: Evidence We Are Not Alone.” Originally a mini-series shown on the Sci-Fi channel, this 3-DVD set exposes real facts about the United States Government concealing UFOs. MJ-12 is an elite top secret military group that was formed in order to investigate and cover-up real UFO and Alien encounters.
These are just a handful of the many, many UFO DVDs you can find online. Many of the fare found online are very well researched and presented and some are just ludicrous. Anyway you look at UFOs you will be intrigued by some of the material in these films. Enjoy!

We are used to searching the sky for signs of alien contact but that is not the only place we are able to look. Ten billion miles away, at the edges of our solar system's heliosphere, the two Voyager probes have left the planets behind and are set to pass out into interstellar space within a few years. Surprisingly these forty-year-old spacecraft are still transmitting data back to Earth about the conditions around them. At the speed of light it still takes thirteen hours to bridge the gulf.

On April 22, 2010 the transmissions from Voyager 2 changed. The data being received was suddenly in a new format, one which the scientists in charge of the data stream say they cannot understand. The official reason given to the press and public is that it is a "glitch" despite the control and diagnostics transmissions having not been affected at all.

Interestingly both Voyagers carry a copy of the Golden Record, "... a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth," along with a device that might allow any alien discoverers to play back and receive our message to them. Is it possible that some alien presence has found the message, played it, and are using our own transmitter to send back a reply about themselves? If so, they are being rudely hung up on.

Doctor Edward Stone, a project scientist who was one of those who helped construct Voyager 2, has stated that the spacecraft was ordered to halt all data stream transmissions and only transmit the engineering data about the status and condition of the craft. This information has not changed in format and reports that the spacecraft is still in fine condition and that the on-board computer is still functioning properly, aside from the change in the formatting of the scientific data stream transmissions.

It is fortunate that the "glitch" was just in the data transmissions back to Earth and not the engineering transmissions. These facts have led to massive speculation as to what is really going on and just what information might have eventually been discovered by analyzing and trying to interpret this data. We may never know since after just the one "reformatted" data transmission NASA cut it off. They do not confirm anything special about that transmission even though you would think that the very idea its formatting had been changed might be considered unusual if not special.

It should make sense that we also look to outer space for evidence of beings from outer space. Even the Hubble space telescope has imaged some unidentified objects even within the boundary of our solar system. Despite misinformation and outright debunking, information and images still leak out of artifacts scattered across the faces of various planets and our own moon. Let us hope that reality does not mimic fiction and that the one transmission NASA received before turning off the link was "Resistance is futile."

NASAs Apollo space mission were for the exploration of the moon. In 1969 Apollo 11 manned by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, was the first one that allowed a moon walk. These two men were the very first astronauts to ever set foot on the surface of the Moon. In 1972 NASA launched their final Apollo mission; Apollo 17. There were altogether 20 missions scheduled for the Apollo mission. Apollo 18, Apollo 19 and Apollo 20 were coordinated, but were scrapped due to budgeting limitations.

Although there can be found on the internet plenty of erroneous reports of an Apollo 20 mission, Apollo 20 was cancelled on January 4th, 1970. The reason for its cancellation at that time was Skylab’s need for Apollo 20’s Saturn V rocket. Because of budget restrictions the Saturn V had a limited production; only the original 15 that were created.

One such erroneous report of Apollo 20 is linked to William Rutledge who had made claims that as a former scientist for Bell Laboratories and was working for the United States Air Force he had knowledge of a secret Apollo mission which was a joint project of the Soviets and Americans. It was also purported that Apollo 20 had discovered an alien craft on the surface of the Moon.

This conspiracy theory states that Apollo 20 made its moon visit on the 16th of August, 1976. This was just about 4 years later following the final Apollo mission. An impact crater on the Moons dark side, Delporte was the intended landing site. Along with Rutledge, Crew Members of this Apollo 20 mission were said to have included Leona Snyder and Alexei Leonov. They were sent to investigate an Alien craft that was apparently detected earlier by the crew of the Apollo 15 mission crew (James Irwin, David Scott and Alfred Worden) in 1971.

Alexei Leonov was indeed an astronaut; he was the first man to walk in space on the 18th of March, 1965. Leonov commanded the Apollo-Soyuz mission, which was the first space mission involving both the USA and the Soviets, on the Soviet side. In the book 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke, Alexei Leonov the Cosmonaut was named for him. But Leonov never admitted to being a part of the Apollo 20 top-secret mission.

The astronauts visited an ancient city and an alien space craft on the Moon’s surface, if you believe Rutledge's story. The astronauts had also been able to collect some nifty alien gadgets and they even brought back one of the two deceased alien pilots to their Lunar landing module.

From analysis of the density of meteor impacts revealed the ship and ancient city were there for 1½ billion years. And the ship seemed to have been explored previously, perhaps by a different alien race.

This story probably had some inspiration from a similar story about some pictures taken while on the Apollo 15 mission. The images are genuine and can be found at the Universities Space Research Association webpage. You can see in the NASA images that there is an object that looks quite strange.

It is probably no more than optical illusion, but it’s quite interesting-looking. It’s a cigar-shaped object inside of a crater. A strange aspect is that it seems to have a shadow.

James Lovell reported this UFO sighting from Apollo 8. He was on the command module, and after coming around the near side of the moon, he made this statement, “Please be informed that we are seeing a Santa Claus. Many people rubbished this statement because it occurred on the day of Christmas in the year 1968, but many of those who are wary of NASA, read much more into his statement.

Though NASA is officially, a civilian institute but much of its monetary support comes from the defense budget, and thus astronauts are required to follow military regulations. All audio, and probably video transmissions, are screened by the National Security Agency. There is also a rumored discussion between a professor and Neil Armstrong about the astronauts and UFOs.
According to many astronauts of NASA, extraterrestrial powers do exist. In late 1973, NASA loosened their lips a bit, when they confirmed that at least 25 astronauts had seen UFOs during lunar missions. Werner Von Braun, who is a famous German rocket scientist and head of the lunar exploration program, told a magazine, “extraterrestrial powers do exist, and they are more powerful than previously thought.”

Even the most discrete space station would have some sign of its existence, like a beacon from incoming ships. If aliens were visiting Earth, and wanted to remain secretive, it is very possible that they would choose the far side of the moon as a location for its station because of it being a short distance from our planet, and yet hidden from photographic or telescopic view. The only time that these structures would be visible is when earthlings visited the far side.
The last humans to touch the lunar surface were Russians aboard the probe Luna 24. President George W.Bush has urged NASA to resume exploration of the Moon, and tentative plans point to the year 2015 as the date that man once again may visit the surface of our moon. The question however remains that what will they find there?
There are former NASA employees stepping forward under the “Disclosure Project” which was headed by Dr. Steven Greer and his 400 something government employee witnesses, who are in unison saying that they are covering up the most important story in human history. A former NASA employee was shown classified photos before they were doctored for declassification, she was told this was a regular thing with NASA
There is another big statement by Scott Carpenter who worked with NASA, he says “At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: there was a constant surveillance by UFOs.”

Major Gordan Cooper is one of the original Mercury Astronauts and the last American to fly in space alone. On May 15, 1963, he shot into space in a Mercury capsule for an orbit journey around the world and reported one of the first Astronaut UFO Sightings.

During the final orbit, Major Gordon Cooper told the tracking
station located in Muchea, Australia that he could see a
glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his
capsule. The UFO was solid and real, because it was picked up by
Muchea's tracking radar. The National Broadcasting Company, which was assigned the covering of the Gordan’s flight also reported the sighting; but when Gordan landed, reporters were told that they would not be allowed to question him about the UFO sighting. He experienced a similar incident some ten years earlier; in 1951 where he had sighted a UFO while piloting an F-86 over Western Germany. According to Gordan, he saw metallic, saucer-shaped discs at considerable altitude that could out-maneuver all American fighter planes.

Major Cooper even testified before the United Nations and told that he strongly believe that the UFO’s and aliens are visiting this planet from other planets. He concluded that there are quantity of documents and thousands of witness reports to prove this but the government does not want these reports to be public.

According to the NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, aliens have a base on the Moon and they told us clearly to stay off from the Moon. According to un-confirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin saw UFO’s shortly after that historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange:

NASA: What’s there?
Mission Control Apollo11: These are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You would not believe it! I am telling you there are other spacecraft out there, Lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They are on the Moon watching us!

Neil Armstrong relayed the message to mission control that three large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. However, the public never heard this message because it was alleged that NASA censored it. According to a NASA employee who was a part of mission control, Aldrin even took color movie film of the UFO’s from
inside the module, and continued filming them after he and
Armstrong went outside. Armstrong confirmed that the story was
true but he refused to go into further detail, beyond admitting that
the CIA was behind the cover-up.