NASA’s UFO Study Team to include astronaut Scott Kelly, scientists and aerospace experts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has selected 16 of the world’s leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners and aerospace safety experts to study UFOs.

The team will begin work on Monday, spending the next nine months not only reviewing prior reports of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) but will also recommend a roadmap for future UAP data analysis.

According to The Associated Press, NASA considers this a first step in explaining mysterious sightings of objects or events that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena.

The team will be led by astrophysicist David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation for advancing scientific research. In a news conference in June, Spergel said the only preconceived notion going into the study is that the UAPs will likely have multiple explanations, the AP reported.

“We have to approach all these questions with a sense of humility,” Spergel said. “I spent most of my career as a cosmologist. I can tell you we don’t know what makes up 95% of the universe. So there are things we don’t understand.”

Other study team members have a wide range of backgrounds, including astronaut Scott Kelly. He spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station and was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy.

Both NASA and the Pentagon are trying to destigmatize the controversial topic of UFOs.

In May, Congress held its first hearing in 50 years on unidentified flying objects to learn more about the phenomenon.

Ronald Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told Congress that the Pentagon was also trying to destigmatize the issue and encourage pilots and other military personnel to report anything unusual they see, according to the AP.

“We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there,” Moultrie told lawmakers.

Lawmakers say UFOs are a national security concern. Sightings have been reported near military bases and coastlines, raising the prospect that witnesses have spotted undiscovered or secret foreign technology.

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