The UFO Phenomenon

Former astronaut saw two smooth metal spheres while flying over Texas

By T.K. Randall
January 10, 2025 ·  134 comments

An AI rendering of the objects Chiao described. Image Credit: Bing AI / Dall-E 3 Chiao, who flew on three space shuttle missions and also served aboard the International Space Station for several months as commander of Expedition 10, left NASA in 2005 and has since become a successful entrepreneur, motivational speaker and engineering consultant in the private sector.

At the time the sighting took place, he had been flying his private four-seat seaplane over Texas when he observed what he described as two "perfectly smooth" spheres at an altitude of around 9,000ft.

The spheres were situated approximately 20 feet away from him and were 3ft in diameter.

"I didn't see any visible means of propulsion, so I don't know what it would be," he told the New York Post in an interview. "You gotta have a jet engine or a propeller or something."

"There was nothing around me other than the panhandle of Texas at nine thousand feet on this instrument flight plan and just suddenly these things appeared.""They were moving about the same speed as I was in the opposite direction. About 100-150 mph."

"If an airplane flew by me that fast, I'd feel its wake, it would have disturbed the air around my airplane."

Chiao noted that the objects resembled one that he'd seen in an image captured on camera over Iraq that had been investigated by the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

"That's what it made me think of," he added. "I wonder, 'Gosh, I wonder if this is the same thing.'"

You can hear Chiao describe his encounter in the below news segment about the recent drone phenomenon.


Source: Futurism | Comments (134)

Tags: UFO, Astronaut