What Was the Mysterious Object the Apollo 11 Crew Confirmed They Saw in Space?

After the Apollo 11 mission had returned to Earth. Astronauts on board the ship and officials at NASA mutually agreed to keep a secret that has only recently been revealed by a former astronaut on this mission- Apollo 11, the day before its historic moon landing, was being "followed" by a mysterious UFO.

Three days and over 300.000 kilometers into this historic space flight, Mission control received a cryptic message from the crew.

Apollo 11: Do you have any idea where the S-IVB is with respect to us?

Mission Control: 'Standby'

Requiring information on the S-IVB, the final rocket which had been released into space over 48 hours earlier- this itself may sound routine, but why were the astronauts so concerned with the position of a spent rocket- once attached to the spaceship?

Over Thirty- five years later, in a televised interview, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin gave his answer. Apollo 11 that day was not alone in space. In fact something seemed to be travelling close to the ship.

There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, and what could it be?

A Unidentified flying object had been traveling alongside Apollo 11 for several hours, as the vessel continued on the journey to the moon. An object that remained close enough to be observed by all the astronauts, and they needed to confirm what it was.

The brightly lit, metallic bell shaped object puzzled the astronauts- who did not want to publicly announce whilst on the mission- a UFO was alongside them. So they agreed to send a cryptic message to mission control.

NASA knew very little about the object reported by the Apollo 11 crew, it was obviously an unidentified flying object (UFO).

(Dr David Baker, a senior Apollo 11 scientist, in a recent interview on the incident.)

The crew waited for NASA's reply, continuing the flight and keeping an eye on the object flying near them. Mission control replied, a few moments later, unaware of what was going on in space above them.

Mission Control: "Apollo 11, Houston. The S-IVB is about 6.000 nautical miles from you now, over"

The astronauts response?

We really did not think we were looking at an object that far away, so the crew decided after a few hours of watching it, we would go to sleep and not talk about it anymore until we came back to debriefing.

(Buzz Aldrin- The second man on the Moon)

When the spacemen did return to Earth, they discussed in the incident behind closed doors in debriefing. NASA officials afraid that if this news was made public- it could result in the ridicule of the astronauts who witnessed the unidentified flying object, agreed it should remain a secret. A secret until, four decades after the historic Moon landing took place.

What was the strange object that followed the Apollo 11? A question that still haunts the memories of the crew aboard the ship, and the NASA officials who heard the news- once the astronauts returned to Earth.

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