A large portion of the reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) can be attributed to members of the public making honest mistakes by mistaking aircraft or perfectly ordinary natural phenomena. However, when an aerospace engineer and an astronaut observe five unexplained lights in the sky, it’s an event that justifies giving it the attention it deserves.
Dr. Michael F. Lembeck, who was part of the team that designed NASA’s Galileo probe, is currently co-chair of the AIAA (American Aeronautical and Astronautical Association) Committee on Integration and Disclosure of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
In a recent interview with former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves, Lembek said that “we really don’t know what we’re dealing with” when it comes to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), and that “there might be something threatening on the other side that we should really worry about.”
Describing his own experience with a UFO, he explained: “About five or six years ago, I was outside on a deck looking north toward downtown Houston with a friend of mine from Boeing and an astronaut. We were having a conversation when four lights appeared in the sky. They were somewhat orange in color, like the color of sodium vapor. They blinked in appearance… and then a fifth appeared.
“And right after the fifth one appeared, the four that were there previously blinked and disappeared…” he continued.
Lembek suspected one of the most common causes of mistaken UFO sightings before dismissing it.
“At first, I thought they were flares, but they weren’t coming down at all,” he told an attentive listener during the interview. “They were maintaining their altitude. But then, that fifth light put the icing on the cake. Suddenly, it sped across the horizon, like nothing we’ve ever seen.”
“The astronaut turned to me and said ‘well, that’s interesting’, very calmly. So I have no idea what that was. I don’t think any of us knew, but it was certainly intriguing.”
“The astronaut turned to me and said ‘well, that’s interesting’, very calmly. So I have no idea what that was. I don’t think any of us knew, but it was certainly intriguing.”
Lembeck also shared another credible witness sighting dating back to the mid-1950s.
He had lunch with Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts who had been selected from among America’s brightest and brightest applicants.
“He told us about a metal object he was chasing in an F-86,” he recounted. “This was probably around 1956 or thereabouts… She came up behind him, kept pace, and then sped away at blinding speed. He said he had no idea what it was, but he knew it wasn’t ours’.
