The Truth is Up There (maybe...)

Recently footage emerged from the International Space Station (ISS) of what some people are saying is an alien spacecraft. I’ll put a link to it at the end of this blog because I don’t want you leaving this page till you’ve listened to me. NO! Do not scroll down to the link – just hear me out, then go take a look.

Good. So now you’re like, ‘What footage? I didn’t see it on the news,' which is a very good point. You didn’t see it on the news because it’s still not categorical proof that aliens exist, that they’re shadowing the ISS, or that they’re walking among us as we speak (or read).

So what did the footage show? Well, firstly let’s make one thing clear: instead of the video being from NASA pointing out the ‘anomaly’ directly, it was instead made public by a ufologist called Scott Waring, who posted the video on his You Tube channel (pic, right).

NASA provides live feeds from a camera on the ISS, and this one was operating because of some maintenance work that was being done on the station. Waring watched it and claims he noticed something special. The camera is fixed and shows bits of the station’s infrastructure with the earth passing by below. Great stuff, though there’s nothing happening.

Then, in the bottom of frame, a small object moves in, and keeps station (that is, travels at the same speed and direction as the ISS) perfectly. It moves slightly ahead of the station at one point but for the next 20 minutes or so it doesn’t do anything except maintain position. It looks like a metallic acorn or a pine cone. Whatever, it looks solid, it looks real.

Someone on the ISS is manually operating the onboard camera because they too seem to notice the object and reposition the camera a couple of times for a better view, including a slight zoom in. There’s no audio relating to the UFO, so presumably the operator either wasn’t being recorded, or NASA has already muted the ‘Holy Moley! What the Fuck? Guys! We’ve got company!’ comment.

But wait, there’s more! Twenty minutes in and suddenly the object, which has done nothing but keep station, suddenly takes off – upwards, and very fast. So, those of you who were already thinking, well obviously it’s a supply cargo capsule that’s undocked from the ISS and is about to return to earth can think again. Supply capsules wouldn’t carry enough spare fuel to manoeuvre up to a higher orbit, and anyway, why would they? All they have to do is undock and after a few more orbits fire their thrusters to return to earth on the planned angle of approach.

The International Space Station (image: NASA)

So, obviously an alien spacecraft. Or not. Don’t get me wrong – nobody wants aliens to exist more than me - I've had a lifelong fascination with extraterrestrials and the potential for aliens either to visit us in the future or already being here - at least one of my friends is probably one. But the older I get the more I question the logic behind events such as this.

That's not to say I doubt some folks’ personal UFO experiences, I absolutely don't, and I've seen things in the sky that I can't explain - not flying saucers or spacecraft, just genuinely unidentified flying objects. (Unfortunately the term 'UFO' has become synonymous with alien spacecraft instead of being what they are: unidentified aerial phenomena). But as someone famously once said (so famous that I can't remember who), until a spacecraft lands on the White House lawn, there's no proof.

So, here’s what my increasingly logical and sceptical brain has been thinking about this latest event:

• If this is genuine footage, unaltered or amended, why hasn't NASA said anything about it?
• Interesting that the first person to 'reveal' it is a ufologist, someone who looks for such things, rather than an authoritative source. That's not to say it didn't happen or isn't real, but what if – if, note – the guy is also adept at CGI?
• And if he is a CGI expert, why hasn’t NASA come forward and denied the footage?
• Even if this event is real, why isn't it headline news around the world in all major media? Instead it's in the tabloids, and semi-buried, even on space.com which is a prime organ for such things. So why isn't space.com following it up independently?
• Why aren't journalists asking The Donald about it in press conferences?
• Why also aren't journalists chasing NASA for comment, or going to astronauts who've been on the ISS for their opinions?
• Why isn’t the Vatican issuing a press release?

Earth at night (Image: NASA)

And the story didn’t make it to the BBC News. Instead, it remains an ‘out there’ story. Conspiracy theorists will answer all these questions with, 'Well, typically, it's being kept quiet, as has everything since Roswell 1947', and they may be right. I mean, just think: what would it do to the world’s religions if the government – any government – were to come out and say, ‘Hey folks, aliens exist, and they’re here now from outer space!’? Exactly. Pandemonium.

In the meantime we await the landing on the White House Lawn. But just to throw an extraterrestrial fly in the earthly ointment is this orbital event anything to do with the arrival of Coronavirus on earth? Cue Twilight Zone theme music. Conspiracy theorists form an orderly queue.

(Okay, now you can check out Mr Waring’s edited highlights here.)