NASA is investigating UFOs, but not for the reason you think

With the anticipated release of the Pentagon UFO report just days away, these unidentified flying objects have become a public obsession — so much so that even NASA can no longer ignore the rising interest in unraveling the mystery.

During an interview with CNN, NASA’s newly appointed administrator Bill Nelson expressed interest in finding out what these flying objects that have appeared in Navy pilot videos are all about.

NASA has long stayed out of discussions regarding unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), but now it seems that the space agency is forced to take part in the conversation, which could lead to removing the stigma over researching this aerial mystery.

The government report on UAPs is due to be delivered by June 25.

• The report is a result of the Intelligence Authorization Act, which was enacted in December 2020 to call for the release of an unclassified and all-sources report on unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) — the official military term used for unidentified flying objects.
• The act was included in the mammoth appropriations bill that also included financial aid checks for people living with the economic fallout from Covid-19.
• As the public anxiously waits for its delivery, spokespeople from the Department of Defense have been releasing surprising statements authenticating grainy footage of UAP caught by Navy pilots.

In the interview with CNN, Nelson confirmed that the footage was not an optical illusion, but he still showed skepticism that the UAPs would be a result of extraterrestrial life paying a visit to Earth.

“I have talked to those Navy pilots and they are sure that they saw something real,” Nelson said during the interview. “We don't know if it's extraterrestrial, we don't know if it's an enemy.”

Nelson added that if it were extraterrestrial visitors, then he would know but then again that it was too soon to rule out that possibility.

NASA’s administrator reportedly directed researchers from the space agency to start investigating the aerial phenomenon.

"There's not really a lot of data and ... scientists should be free to follow these leads, and it shouldn't be stigmatized," NASA press secretary Jackie McGuinness told CNN. "This is a really interesting phenomenon and Americans are clearly interested in it [so if] the scientists want to investigate, they should."

With the statements from the government, as well as NASA’s acknowledgment of UAPs, this is the closest the UFO community has gotten to a legitimate conversation around unidentified flying objects.

Even without the report being released yet, UFO enthusiasts already feel like the conversation has progressed significantly in the past few months.

The recent statement by the NASA administrator also adds a level of legitimacy to the ongoing investigation.

Scientists address alien life but often by looking for habitable environments on other planets or biosignatures — certain chemicals that may have been produced by some form of past or present life, be it microbes or alien fish.

Meanwhile, scientists hunting for intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations look for technological fingerprints, or technosignatures, produced by life on another planet.

NASA joining the ongoing conversations around UAPs could possibly make room for more scientific investigations of extraterrestrial phenomenon, and help resolve the mystery of these flying objects.