You're probably familiar with the disappearance of Frederick Valentich and his Cessna aircraft while being followed by a UFO over the Bass Straits between Australia and Tasmania, but have you ever heard of a similar incident that occurred near Puerto Rico?
At 6:10 P.M. on June 28, 1980, Jose Maldonado Torres and his friend, Jose Pagan Santos, took off from Los Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in an Ercoupe aircraft marked N3808H. The Ercoupe was owned by Santos' father Jose Pagan Jimenez, an Aero Police Officer for Puerto Rico. They were bound for home in Puerto Rico.
At 8:03 P.M. the Las Mesas site and several aircraft picked up radio transmissions from N3808H:
"Mayday, Mayday, Ercoup ochero cero, eight, zero, zero, Hotel. We can see a strange object in our course, we are lost, Mayday, Mayday."
An Iberia Airlines Flight IB-976 en route from Santo Domingo to Spain responded to the Mayday and received a reply:
"Ah we are going from Santo Domingo to ah San Juan International but we found ah a weird object in our course that made us change course about three different times we got it right in front of us now at one o'clock, our heading is zero seven zero degrees… our altitude one thousand six hundred a zero seven zero degrees… our VORs got lost off frequency…"
Iberia Flight IB-976 then relayed a message asking from San Juan Center asking N3808H to turn on their transponder.
N3808H replied that the Ercoup was not equipped with a transponder. At 8:06 Iberia IB-976 asked for their call sign and estimated position and received this reply:
"Right now we are supposed to be at about thirty-five miles from the coast of Puerto Rico but we have something weird in front of us that make us lose course all the time I changed our course a second (unintelligible) our present heading right now is three hundred we are right again in the same stuff, sir."
They were not heard from again. At 8:12, the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range verified the last radar position of N3808H as thirty-five miles West of Puerto Rico.
A search that included Santos' father was then mounted which centered on this last radar position. It was discontinued after two days when no trace had been found. No trace was ever found.
Hear audio transmission, 874 KB, 3:44
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Baylor professor studies unusual claims
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DALLAS - (KRT) - Christopher Bader was one of those kids who loved tales of the improbable. He grew up to become his own improbable tale: He's a sociology professor at the conservative and Baptist Baylor University, a Presbyterian who has a particular interest in people who say they are UFO abductees or victims of religion-linked ritual abuse. His study of the two groups was published in a recent issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
"My students ask me all the time: `Do you believe in UFOs? Do you believe in ritual abuse? Do you believe in Bigfoot?'" He said. "My answer is that I just don't care whether they're real or not."
Studying the sociology of religion is nothing like delving into theology, he said.
"We're not studying God. We're studying what people who believe in God and live on earth do," he said.
"God" and "religion" are defined broadly by sociologists of religion. Belief in UFO abductions and in ritual abuse both include a large dose of faith.
The scientific mainstream has not accepted any claims of alien abductions. And many who claim to have survived ritual abuse say they discovered the abuse through the recovery of long-repressed memories. The length of time between the alleged event and the recovery of the memory often makes it hard to investigate the claims.
So are there UFOs grabbing people? Are there Satanic cults abusing people? In many cases, people believe without the kinds of evidence that would convince outsiders - it's a matter of faith. And that means people who belong to support groups for UFO abductees or for survivors of ritual abuse can be studied as members of "new religious movements."
The only connection between the UFO folks and the ritual abuse folks is that the two groups gained attention in the 1980s, as Dr. Bader was starting his academic career.
Sociologists such as Bader study small groups like these because they believe this is a way to understand how successful faiths develop. After all, the largest religions all started with a few people considered unusual by their neighbors.
"It really is no crazier than anything else," he said of the outside-the-mainstream stuff he studies. "I appreciate it as a belief, and a sincerely held belief."
Not that he expects belief in UFO abductions to morph into a major faith anytime soon. "Not in my lifetime," he said.
Most of his work involves less controversial belief systems - why churches and denominations succeed or fail in drawing members. But when Baylor hired him a couple of years ago, he told his new bosses that part of his studies could seem a bit, well, odd for a Baptist school.
"But when I talk about Satanism in class, I'm not recruiting," he said.
His paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal, is the fruit of years of tentative contacts with support groups for people who say they've been snatched by aliens or ritually abused. Members of these groups are suspicious of outsiders. Much of his paper details how he gained their trust - and eventually, some information about them.
Eventually, he was able to get 55 of the UFO folks and 51 ritual-abuse survivors to anonymously fill out forms about their ages, education and other demographic information.
That information fills a hole in the study of these groups, he said. Most academic attention has focused on the beliefs or on psychological effects on the believers. Bader's goal was to identify the kinds of people who subscribe to these beliefs.
What he came up with has its limits, he admits. The sample size is small, and there's no way to know for sure if they represent the average UFO abductee or ritual-abuse survivor. But the results are in line with research done on other small, new religious movements, he said.
Many academics who study such movements tend to consider members of these particular groups as rubes, he said. "They assume that these are some country bumpkins who believe that the UFOs are plucking them off their tractors. That's not what people who are interested in new ideas are like."
It turns out that the folk who filled out Bader's forms are a lot like most Americans who seek out unusual faith experiences: They're generally female, white, affluent and well-educated when compared with the general population.
Of the 51 UFO abductees, 32 were women, 48 said they were white and six identified as Native American (three chose both categories), 34 attended some college, and 29 were white-collar workers. Most said they found some positive aspects to their experience.
Of the 48 ritual-abuse survivors, all were white women, 44 had attended college, and of the 21 then employed, 18 were white-collar workers. This was an unhappy population, and most reported they had dozens of multiple personalities.
What they have in common, Bader said, is that they mostly follow the pattern found in other new religious movements.
"The theory tells us that it doesn't matter about the personality of the `god' involved," he said. "The point is that a certain demographic is interested in things outside the mainstream."
Bader's own interest in such things started when he was very young.
"I read `The Amityville Horror' when I was in the fourth grade and I couldn't sleep for a week," he said. "When I was a kid, I used to try to find Bigfoot in the woods or worry that UFOs would come to my room and get me."
He'll admit to never losing his fascination with the mystery associated with tales of the supernatural.
"If we ever caught Bigfoot and put him in a cage," he said, "I'd be really depressed."
Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004
BY JEFFREY WEISS
The Dallas Morning News
© 2004, The Dallas Morning News
Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services
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Can you identify this UFO picture? This is one of the "Best UFO Pictures Ever Taken" according to the UFO Casebook and many other UFO sites. Do you know when and where it was taken? Click on the picture for the answer.

Breaking UFO Reports, (last update, 08-30-04)
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Peru: UFO Presence "Delights Farmers"
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June 9, 2004. Several strange lights in the sky drew the attention of peasants from Rapayán, Uco, Paucas and Anra in the province of Huari (Perú). The collective farmers celebrated the arrival of the alleged UFOs because they took them as a sign of good fortune and because they foretold a good harvest. Local police are investigating the source of the lights, but have not found any leads. Thanks to Planeta UFO
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New York - Sphere UFO
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EAST WILLISTON -- There was a bright light in the sky that was hovering over Long Island at 3 AM, on August 8, 2004. He got his video camera that was mounted on a tripod and began to video tape with his 360 X zoom lens. He states, "What I saw was amazing; it was round and appeared to have the landscape of a planet." There was a green corona around the outer edge of the circle with a black band that went across the circle horizontally. The object appeared to be pulsating. I checked astronomy websites with planets and determined this was no planet? Thanks to Peter Davenport
BROOKLYN – The witness just brought a brand new Nikon D70 camera with a 400 mm lens - and started taking images on the boardwalk of Brighton Beach on August 7, 2004, at 1:30 PM. He was photographing the sea, sand, sky, and birds filling up the memory card with a lot of practice shots. He went home and transferred all his images to the computer. My Dad noticed a speck at the upper right portion of a shot if a bird flying over the sea. He reports, "I zoomed in on the day time image, and my hair stood up because it wasn't a bird or a star." Later on during the day, I went to soccer practice with my Dad and again we saw something white in the sky, that was very mysterious. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Pennsylvania – Five Lights in a Row
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YORK -- At 4:30 AM, on August 8, 2004, the observer got up to get some water and noticed a very bright light high up in the southeastern sky, which was much larger and brighter than any star or planet. He grabbed the binoculars and saw off in the distance five horizontal lights very close to one another, totally stationery. I got my wife out of bed. He states, "By the time she came to the kitchen, it had moved further away and at a slightly different angle, making it impossible to see it as five lights. "Rather, by this time it was just one bright light." I called 911 and three policemen came to the house. They saw the light in the sky, which I photographed by the time they arrived. Again, it had moved further away but was still clearly visible. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Michigan – Flying Triangle
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GLADSTONE – On August 5, 2004, the observer saw a round fuzzy light through his binoculars at 1 AM. He states, "I have reported these before but I got a good look at them through 20x50 binoculars tonight." From a distance they look like bright circles with a halo around them, but tonight I saw two within 5 minutes of each other." One was far too fast to see. The second, I caught for about 5 seconds through the binoculars. It came from the south fast and was sort of triangular shaped which surprised me. It was almost like a glowing paper airplane with pointed up wings. I finally lost it as it manuevered and finally disappeared. My neighbors are seeing them also. One of my neighbors is in search and rescue and has served in the Navy for 12 years and never saw anything at sea or out like this. I love tracking satellites and have loved astronomy since I was a boy and cannot explain these things in the night sky. I will keep watching. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Illinois - Flashing White Light
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LAKE ZURICH – There was a sudden extraordinary occurrence in the sky on August 9, 2004, about 17 miles north of Chicago's O'Hare Airport. The witness a former accountant was walking his dog at 11:15 PM, and looked towards the Big Dipper when a bright white light flashed across the sky in front of him. This ball and streak was traveling south horizontal to the ground towards O'Hare Airport, at a speed calculated at a speed of 18,000 mph at less than 5,000 feet, possibly under 1,000 feet about 5 to 10 miles away. The streak or tail was two or three miles long. In summary, this occurrence was like seeing a shooting star, traveling low and horizontally, at an incredible speed. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director
HIGHLAND/POKAHONTAS -- On August 8, 2004, at 3 AM, the witness was returning from my friends house when a white object paced his car on Interstate 70 between Highland and Pokahontas, Illinois. He states, "I caught sight of this object to my right (southeast) as I reached the speed limit. I rolled down the passenger window to make sure I wasn't seeing a reflection or distortion in the glass. It looked the same. The object was illuminated in white light although it was somewhat dimmer than the full moon would be. It looked like a round tube standing on its edge straight up and down. Like the core of a paper towel roll. Except this one had a ring that circled the entire object like rings of Saturn. The whole object was as big as a penny held at arm's length away and hovered 25 to 30 degrees off of the horizon. As I drove it seemed to float a little higher and lower in the sky, but kept pace. I had my little camera with me so I decided to pull off to try to get a picture. But it faded from view. I had my police scanner on, but no one I heard reported anything. It was like a towel core on its edge with Saturn's rings around it." Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Alabama – Flying Triangle
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HOOVER/BLUFF PARK – A father and his daughter were driving back from fueling up her car, when they saw red and white lights through the tops of the trees on August 10, 2004, at 9:23 PM. When they came to a stop sign and a clearing, they saw a strange-looking craft flying northeast not too high up in the sky. It was composed of four white lights and two red lights, none of which were flashing, and it was traveling quite fast. It was triangular in shape with one white light at the forward point, three white lights in a row behind it, and the two red lights at the opposite back corners. There were no green lights and no 'headlights' that we frequently see on aircraft landing at this time of night. At arm's length, it was about one inch long and at about 1,000 feet altitude. It was really close, to me, closer than aircraft usually fly. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Texas - Dark, Oblong Shape
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ARLINGTON – A dark object with a glowing green-yellow light was seen on August 10, 2004, at 11:55 PM, by two friends. The witness reports, "I just saw the weirdest thing I have seen since the big meteor a month ago." My friend and I witnessed an object flying across the sky unlike any aircraft I have ever seen. It was a dark oblong shape. The large part looked like a shadow almost. It was colorless but slightly darker than the sky. It had a greenish yellow glowing object suspended just beneath the large object. I thought at first that it might be a balloon and glow stick, but the object was traveling against the wind at a steady rapid pace. It made no sound. It looked to be pretty large and traveled west at least 1000 feet. We watched it for a good while, until it disappeared in the distance. It was freaky, but very cool. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Arizona - Cigar
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MESA – The witness reports, "I was turning from Baseline onto Hawes Road going southbound on August 9, 2004, at 12:40 AM, when I saw a bright reddish orange blimp looking object." It was very bright, but then became a small light then back to a large shape then it disappeared. I looked over and another car was also stopped in the middle of the road watching as well." Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Nevada - Objects Light Show
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SPARKS -- At 9 PM, it started as a small white light blip in the sky, north of the city on August 5, 2004. and as it came closer, the lights changed color and started to splinter off into different pieces, going in different directions. The night sky gave a good background for the many colors. The witness states, "We looked through a telescope at these objects as they flew in many different directions, and found that they were actually huge round objects with lights going off and on all the way around them." This show lasted approximately two hours. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director
RENO – The observer was walking his dog at 10:08 PM, on August 5, 2004, when he saw a huge craft with two red lights flying over Eastern Reno not far from some commercial planes flying near Reno Tahoe Airport. Coming from the northwest was a strange craft with two reddish blinking lights seemingly connected, but at a distance that would fit between four commercial planes. I think I could make out dim stars between the lights, but I'm not sure. It covered the sky at a lazy speed. One commercial jet was at about 7,000 feet moving in for the landing loop they do from the south, and the jet was moving faster. I watched for several minutes, and stood outside my house watching as it disappeared over the Virginia Mountain Range. There was a pair of blinking aircraft-style lights, but very erratic in the flashing. I held my hand up and the distance between the lights was about four fingers wide too big for any one aircraft. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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California – Silver Cylinder Turns Into Black Saucer
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PAUMA – On August 3, 2004, the witness was driving northeast on Highway 76, at 5:30 PM, when he saw a silver cylinder shaped object flying straight down, then level off, changing colors and shape. The silver cylinder changed into a black saucer shape craft, and sped off at a very high rate of speed climbing to about four thousand feet. It was lower than the tops of the Mount Polimar when just vanished over the horizon. Thanks to Peter Davenport http://www.ufocenter.com/
MODESTO -- R. David Anderson took this picture a few nights ago August 20, 2004. He states, "I noticed a flash of light to the south of Vega at about 9:45 PM. I aimed the camera at the place where I saw the flash and I got this unusual object in the shot I took. The five points of light seem to all belong to one UFO. Also, I started a new web site if you would like to post the link so your readers can access it: www.ufobase.net
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Oregon - Seven Fast Moving Lights
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PORTLAND – Around 1 AM, on August 9, 2004, the witness was sitting outside smoking a cigarette when a small flash of light in the sky caught his eye. He states, "I looked at the white lights about seven in all as they moved in a V pattern to the west without any wing tip or signal." It moved forward then right without stopping. The lights then began going out as if the object had some thickness. The object was very dark or black in the dark sky. This incident only took a few seconds and the object moved very fast. My only explanation would be a B2 bomber with landing lights on; but I just can’t explain the turn. `Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Seattle, WA-One Red, One White Object Seen
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Can't say if they were from outer space, but I am sending you a few pics I took on Sunday, August 8th, in Seattle, WA; to provide some background, I was sitting on my porch at approx. 2:00 PM, and happened to notice an anomaly in what was previously a clear blue sky. It looked as if 2 stars appeared out of nowhere, one red, one white, although the white one was extremely difficult to see as compared to the red. They headed east until they were in the middle of the sky (from my perspective), hung around for about 25 minutes, and then "blinked" out. While the pics themselves are probably not worth following up on, I felt a need to send it to someone, as I am pretty sure what I saw that day cannot easily be explained; hopefully, someone else from my area has done the same (to make sure I am not seeing things : )
You might have to look pretty hard to spot them, I am hoping the imaging software you mention on the site will be able to help. I included a treetop in one of the pics to try and add some perspective to the shot; if you find the pictures to be of any interest, I can sent you the distances of the trees from where I was sitting.
FYI, I used a Canon X-2 digital camera, 5 mp, on full optical zoom (3x), medium quality.
Again, I am pretty sure the value of the photos are dubious (at best), but at least I can have another set of eyes take a look, just to be sure.
Thanks (in advance) for taking a look.
P. S. I did the best I could to bring in the objects in question; they were there, but just too distant to and blurry to publish. ( B J) Thanks to R. M.
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Washington - Orange Object
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SHELTON -- On August 8, 2004, a bright orange object was noticed flying very rapidly to the southwest, at 11:30 PM. The object had no tail and was too fast to be meteorite. It was faster than anything I have ever seen, and was heading slightly southwest of our house. It didn't leave a trail like a meteorite would and it didn't fade out or disappear...it just shot into and out of sight very rapidly without any stopping or direction change. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Canada - Disk
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RIDING MOUNTAIN, Manitoba -- An object was seen in the sky to the southeast corner of the Riding Mountain National Park on August 11, 2004, at 1 PM. It was moving up and down and back and forth with blue lights around it with a red light on top. We watched it for about an hour and then went to bed. It darted back and forth in a small area for two hours. Thanks to Brian Vike http://www.hbccufo.com/
Panama - Cylinder
My sister was trying to video tape long strikes of lightning in the evening sky at 9 PM after she had noticed a lot of silent thunder on August 5, 2004. As she filmed a flying object flew right across her video screen clear as day? It's an incredible video how do I send it to you? It's a cylinder shaped ship that is not an normal aircraft. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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UK/England - Silver Oval
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HAMPSHIRE – At 10 PM, the witness was outside feeding goat's on August 5, 2004, when he looked up and saw a long thin white object passing slowly overhead. This object was at an altitude of about 14 -15 thousand feet and heading in a northerly direction. The object did not make any noise. At one point the sun caught the side of the object, which made it shine but there where no light's on it. This object was not a bird, comet, balloon, helicopter, hot air balloon, flare, fire-work, or satellite. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Portugal - Oval
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MADEIRA – On August 8, 2004, the witness noticed an aircraft and nearby was a really strange object at 12:43 PM. Although the commercial aircraft made noise the strange object did not make any noise. The strange oval had three white lights and a little red one too. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Indonesia to Japan - Morphing Glowing Orange Oval Object
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JAKARTA-TOKYO – The witness reports, "Shortly after take-off I was looking at the on-board movie screen which was showing live footage of the clear night sky in front of the plane on August 7, 2004, at 12:30 AM." I could see stars and a small `moon` with kind of orange glow around it. I continued to look at it when to my astonishment this shape began to move across the screen in such a way that it was clearly not the moon or a star. For two minutes, I watched it as it moved across the screen in an S-shape and occasionally disappeared from view only to reappear in a different place. Because of this it could have been possible I was witnessing more than one UFO. I am a 28 year old male and I am writing this report because there is no rational explanation for what I saw. All other passengers appeared to be asleep when this happened. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director http://www.ufocenter.com/
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Peru: UFO Presence "Delights Farmers"
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June 9, 2004. Several strange lights in the sky drew the attention of peasants from Rapayán, Uco, Paucas and Anra in the province of Huari (Perú). The collective farmers celebrated the arrival of the alleged UFOs because they took them as a sign of good fortune and because they foretold a good harvest. Local police are investigating the source of the lights, but have not found any leads. Thanks to Planeta UFO
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The UFO Sightings and Updates on this page come from a
variety of sources. Among them are:
NUFORC, MUFON database, Filer's Files, UFO Round-up, HBCC UFO Research, canufo@yahoogroups.com, Brian Vike, and the UFO Casebook. These are preliminary reports, and many will be investigated further. Any updates to these of any significance will be posted at a later date. Thanks to these great sites for their information.
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UFO QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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Russia and the U. S. have announced they are definitely planning several space machines. So it's quite possible that the first space ships or satellites may encounter other interplanetary machines, manned or otherwise. Our space devices may even be closely approached by such alien machines...
- Maj. Don Keyhoe USMC, November 29, 1957
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