NASA declines a White House request to study UFOs
December 21, 1977 · NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC · Executive action · Primary document linked
President Carter, who had reported a light over Georgia and promised in 1976 to release UFO information, had his science adviser Frank Press write to NASA in mid-1977 suggesting it consider a UFO research program. On 21 December 1977 NASA Administrator Robert Frosch declined, citing the lack of physical evidence and of a sound scientific method. NASA's February 1978 information sheet says it conducts no UFO research.
Why it matters (3/5)
A formal decision by NASA, after a request from President Carter's science adviser, to stay out of UFO research.
Caveats
Sources disagree on details: Carter's sighting is dated 6 January 1969 in one account and October 1969 in NASA's sheet, and the Press letter is dated 21 June 1977 in one source and July 1977 in the other. Explanations offered for Carter's sighting are Venus and a rocket-launched barium cloud.
Sources
- NASA Information Sheet No. 78-1, Unidentified Flying Objects (1 February 1978) (NASA Headquarters), primary
- Fraught with perils (David Clarke) (David Clarke (Substack)), context