In  April 1979, Russian cosmonaut Victor Afanasyev sighted an alien craft whilst in space, he states:" I think we are not alone, something of extraterrestrial origin has visited Earth. The alien craft turned towards ours, followed us and flew formation 25 to 29 metres away. We photographed the metallic engineering structure that was 40 metres long. The film was later confiscated".
Victor did in fact make a drawing of the object [ left ].

Victor Afanasyev's drawing of the UFO he witnessed - filmed evidence was confiscated.

Gennadij Strekhalov, another cosmonaut - MIR Space Station, relates:
"On the last two flights I saw something. During the flight of 1990, I called Gennadij Manakov, our commander to come to the porthole - but we did not manage to put a film in the camera quickly enough. We looked on Newfoundland and the atmosphere was absolutely clear - suddenly a kind of sphere appeared. Beautiful, shiny and glittering - I saw it for 10 seconds - it disappeared. What was it, what size it had? I don't know, there was nothing I could compare with - it was a perfect  sphere. I reported to the Mission Control Centre, but I did  not say I have seen a UFO - I said I saw a kind of unusual phenomenon. I had to be careful with the choice of my words - I don' want someone to speculate too much or quote me wrong".

During docking with the Russian Mir space station astronaut Musa Manarov filmed an anomalous object, he stated:
"At some point during the filming I caught sight of something I thought had separated from the ship… however, it was not very close, I know this because the camera was focused on infinity. Nothing could have broken away. There were no alarms were going off. Later there were arguments over what possibly it could have been".

[ Click  video ]Musa Manarov - filmed a UFO whilst docking with MIR.

   [ Click  video ]

The MIR Space Station - several UFOs were captured on film from this location.

Nasa struggles to shape its future By Irene Mona Klotz, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

“We're committed to opening lines of communication and making sure people get their dissenting opinions and minority opinions on the table “
Wayne Hale - NASA

By the time Nasa managers meet again to oversee a shuttle mission, they may find their old rectangular table replaced by a nice big round one.
Or perhaps the team will gather around a triangular table, like the US Navy uses.

"Now you laugh," chides deputy shuttle manager Wayne Hale, addressing a group of grinning reporters. "But when you talk about culture and how people subconsciously deal with hierarchy, and where they fit within an organisation, and whether they feel comfortable in bringing things up, things like the shape of the table matter."

Hale, a former flight director recently picked to serve as the shuttle programme's deputy manager, is taking a stab at explaining how Nasa will tackle the most challenging recommendations offered by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board: changing the agency's mindset.
"I'm wishing I'd taken more sociology classes in college," confesses Hale.
"I'm learning a lot - I think we're all learning a lot in this arena - and we're committed to opening lines of communication and making sure people get their dissenting opinions and minority opinions on the table so we can consider them."

Nasa is not quite ready for yoga and aromatherapy, but Hale says outside experts will be sitting in on training simulations and gauging communication and management skills as carefully as technical experts crunch data about solid rocket booster performance.

"I've added a number of books to my bookshelf that are decision-making related," says Hale. "And we're going to have a number of these folks come and talk to us."

“Flawed decision making”
Investigators probing the fatal 1 February shuttle accident faulted Nasa management and flawed decision-making processes as much as hardware breakdowns for loss of Columbia and its seven astronauts.

In depth guide: Columbia's last mission:
Mission managers, for example, squashed attempts by engineers to obtain high-resolution photographs of the shuttle in orbit to assess possible damage from a debris impact at lift off. Accident investigators determined the shuttle was destroyed because of wing damage from falling foam insulation.
Managers also failed to meet daily, as rules required, and failed to realise that data being used to rationalise the foam strike as a non-issue was being erroneously applied.
"We've got to put into place a structure that prevents the next accident," says Hale.
"We were not good enough," he added. "We did not do what is necessary to keep the Columbia crew safe. That is something we have to live with as a legacy that will compel us to do the right thing for future shuttle flights and for future human exploration of space."

More headaches:
Hale's comments came at the midpoint of a three-day workshop to explain Nasa's plans for returning its remaining three space shuttles to flight.

With all the new requirements for launching, just getting a shuttle off the ground will be an accomplishment.

The new constraints include:
daylight liftoff for better photographs and video of possible debris strikes sunlit angles on the fuel tank as it is being jettisoned - and photographed - eight and a half minutes after lift off. These rules are in addition to the technical requirements to launch when the station's orbit is properly aligned with the launch site and to schedule the mission when the sun angle will not fry or freeze a shuttle docked at the station.

Add to the mix:
the launch schedules of commercial and government payloads from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which supplies range safety and tracking services for shuttle flights as well Soyuz and Progress launches and operations at the space station the occasional meteor shower and, of course, Florida's famous fickle weather, and you have "a great challenge," says flight director John Shannon.

During the autumn and winter, the launch opportunities shrink to just a few days a month.

Mr Shannon says: "We're just beginning to grapple with what that means for the space station."

The following article was published in “The St. Petersburg Times” (U.S. - Florida)

On February 18^th 2004

 Astronaut: We've had visitors

The sixth man to walk on the moon shares his unconventional views.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer

 The aliens have landed - Thus declared Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell on Saturday to more than 200 admirers.

"A few insiders know the truth . . . and are studying the bodies that have been discovered," said Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon.Mitchell, who landed on the moon with Alan B. Shepard, said a "cabal" of insiders stopped briefing presidents about extraterrestrials after President Kennedy.

For those who might consider his statements farfetched, Mitchell, who has a doctorate in science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, noted that 30 years ago it was accepted that man was alone in the universe. Few people believe that now, he said.

Besides aliens, Mitchell talked about being freed of prostate cancer during a healing ceremony and his epiphany while returning from the moon.

"I had an opportunity to be a tourist," he said, going on to speak about the sensation he felt as he watched the Earth, moon and sun.

Raised as a Southern Baptist, Mitchell said his feeling of interconnectedness could not be explained by traditional religion alone. He later founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

On its Web site, the California organization says it conducts and sponsors "leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness" and that it explores "phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor."

The site also states that IONS, as it is known by members, is not a spiritual sect, political action group or single-cause institute.

Saturday afternoon, dozens of people made their way through rain to hear Mitchell and IONS president James O'Dea speak at the Heritage Holiday Inn in downtown St. Petersburg.

Lisa Raphael, a member of IONS who describes herself as a transformational holistic healer, said she was pleased to hear Mitchell's comments.

"Personally, what was most delightful to me was that he was more open than he has ever been, very direct about knowing that there are other forms of intelligent life in the universe and most probably that they have been here," said Ms. Raphael.

Quotes

"We are dealing with technologies that are 50 years beyond that which we can comprehend. Visualize in your mind - 50 years beyond that - we are working on it." George Schmidt Chief of Propulsion Research Technologies - NASA