definitely not aliens
look_of_disapproval
ASTRONAUTS
"I believe that these extraterrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets which obviously are a little more technically advanced than we are here on Earth."
— Colonel Gordon Cooper, Mercury & Gemini Astronaut [VIDEO]
"I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomenon is real. It has been covered up by governments for quite some time now."
— Captain Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut
"...I've been asked [about UFOs] and I've said publicly I thought they [UFOs] were somebody else, some other civilization." [VIDEO]
— Astronaut Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander
"I was testing a P-51 fighter in Minneapolis when I spotted this object. [...] It looked like a saucer, a disk. About the same time, I realized that it was suddenly going away from me - and there I was, running at about 300 miles per hour. I tracked it for a little way, and then all of a sudden the damn thing just took off. It pulled about a 45 degree climbing turn and accelerated and just flat disappeared."
— Captain Donald Slayton, Mercury Astronaut
"For nearly 50 years, the secrecy apparatus within the United States Government has kept from the public UFO and alien contact information." "We have contact with alien cultures."
— Astronaut Dr. Brian O'Leary
NASA, CIA, ARMY, AIR FORCE ETC
"Unknown objects are operating under intelligent control... It is imperative that we learn where UFOs come from and what their purpose is..." (1) "Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe that unknown flying objects are nonsense." (2)
— Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, first Director of the CIA, 1947-1950
"We had a job to do, wether right or wrong, to keep the public from getting excited."
— Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Scientific consultant for Air Force Project Blue Book
"Of course UFOs are real, and they are interplanetary. The cumulative evidence for the existence of UFOs is quite overwhelming and I accept the fact of their existence."
— Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding, Commanding Officer of the Royal Air Force during WWII
"This 'flying saucer' situation is not at all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is really flying around. The phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious."
— General Nathan Twining, US Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1955-1958
"Unidentified Flying Objects are entering our atmosphere at very high speeds and obviously under intelligent control. We must solve this riddle without delay."
— Rear Admiral Delmar Fahrney, USNR
ROCKET SCIENTISTS & PHYSICISTS
"It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system. There is no doubt in my mind that these objects are interplanetary craft of some sort. I and my colleagues are confident that they do not originate in our solar system."
— Dr. Hermann Oberth, the "father of modern rocketry"
"I am completely convinced that UFOs have an out-of-world basis."
— Dr. Walther Riedel, chief designer and research director at the German rocket center in Peenemunde
"The least improbable explanation is that these things are artificial and controlled... My opinion for some time has been that they have an extraterrestrial origin."
— Dr. Maurice Biot, leading aerodynamicists and mathematical physicist
"The possibility of reduced-time interstellar travel either by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations at present or ourselves in the future, is not fundamentally constrained by physical principles."
— Dr. Harold Puthoff, Director, Institute for advanced studies at Austin, Author of fundamentals of Quantum Electronics
95% of sightings can be explained by known phenomena, but about 5% cannot.
Source: The COMETA Report (published by the French government):
Part 1: http://www.ufoevidence.org/newsite/files/COMETA_part1.pdf Part 2: http://www.ufoevidence.org/newsite/files/COMETA_part2.pdf
Let's follow the argument:
Categorization of phenomena as "cannot be identified despite the abundance and quality of the data" -- 4-5% of all reported cases fit this category
Radar/visual cases comprise about 20% of this type of sighting -- over 500 cases in total.
Conclusions include:
the prescient opening sentence that "The UFO problem cannot be eliminated by mere caustic and offhand witticisms."
the "almost certain physical reality of completely unknown flying objects with remarkable flight performances and noiselessness, apparently operated by intelligent [beings]."
"secret craft definitely of Earthly origin can only explain a minority of cases."
"The extraterrestrial hypothesis ... certainly has not been categorically proven, but strong presumptions exist in its favor and if it is correct, is loaded with implications."
Regarding physical evidence
Database of electromagnetic trace cases: http://www.nicap.org/NSID_DBListingbyCat3.pdf
Radar evidence: http://www.nicap.org/whatradar.htm (Also see belgian wave video shared earlier)
UFOs disable nuclear weapons in their silos: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/airmen-govt-clean-ufos/story?id=11738715
UFOs defy known physics: "Object tracked on multiple radar flying at 5,000+ MPH and making 90 degree turns"
General resources:
UFOevidence.com A very thorough resource on UFO evidence of all kinds, including scientific studies, reports, and testimony from all sectors of life.
A great book on the topic (very objective and rational): "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record" by Leslie Kean -- Kean is a reporter, and for an investigative-journalistic take on the UFO phenomenon, this book seems second to none.
Frequent objections:
"The government wouldn't cover it up." - The US government didn't acknowledge the existence of Area 51 until last year.
"Why would aliens be interested in us?" - We're interested in bugs and bacteria and atoms. Nothing is too small or insignificant for our interest, so being interested seems to be a sign of intelligence. Why wouldn't they be interested in us?
"The distances between stars is too large" - A civilization could be a mere million years older than us and have made physics breakthroughs we can't even imagine. It would be unscientific to assume there is so little left to discover about faster-than-light travel.
"If they made it here, they're clearly more advanced. Why don't they kill us?" - Perhaps a more advanced civilization is, well -- more civil.
"They are secret government aircraft." - Given that they defy known laws of physics, government scientists would have had to discover new laws of physics that would end the energy crisis.
Evidence of UFOs is compelling to the extent that to deny their physical reality is tantamount to science denial. Earnest study of available information makes it impossible to come away with the impression that they could be fictitious or hallucinatory. While this comment is just an introduction, it includes sources that can be explored to satisfy any doubts.
While there is no compelling evidence that the craft are of alien origin, it remains a sensible hypothesis.
Adapted with permission from /u/sexiest_username