Congressional, White House, UFO-related Constituent Correspondence, 1998

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with four lar::e triantlular canted solar
t...
p.,nrb. (Conract compared lhc sight to
Oul>ris from open
the strap-on lwosters of a Titau•3
hatch on G omini• t 2.
...........
rocket.) F:vcu the photographs show
this when ~ludicd with real Proton-3
photographs close at hand.
A~trn:::?:.:~ Co::~::d ~:-:d th:! l.iFO
people clashed again ov~r his. next
;..
space mission. Apollo•12. According
t
lO the Research Director of A.PRO, Dr.
ltn
~-··.
Harder, Conrad reported that he was •
f
bei11g followed by a UFO on the way .
to the moon. Conrad claims that it was
just a joke about the large panels which
enclose
the lunar module during
launch but are jettisoned later in the
flight and which tumble through space
a few miles from the Apollo all the
way to the -moon. Harder says that
Conrad, under pressure from a secret
government agency, is lying.
These
are
Conrad's
words:
"They've been after me for years
because we were followed by a UFO
on · the way to the moon. That, of
course, was untrue. The guy who came
up with it was going by our transcript
where we saw debris from our own
rocket and we were joking with the
ground crew about it. He took this out
of context. . .I called the ground and
said, 'hey, gang, we're being followed,
there's· some flashing object out there'.
Some scandal sheet took that a.,d
Fragment in focus at range
of 3 to 5 feet-Sandler calls
it
0 unidentiflabJe'', and
Malian and Barry also use It. ra?'\
e11lo.~zx..,1..t-0, 16)
~
t.::
' .' "'.. ·:--- ... .....
.....
.
.....,
• ...,,.,,.,, •
wcc:r::a-.• ..,,,..y;..,·,._.,_,."',,..•..__._"..,.e..•...,•....:..J.•.r"-·- ·..,.....,..___:;,,•·...___~__._________...
48
···--...- . .
Blowups of Gemini-11 photos of
Proton-3. Sun glare and el<treme
magnification contribute to
bizarre appearance,
made a helluva story out of it. But it
was nothing like anything I was
connected with". Conrad has left
NASA and lives in Denver, presumably
beyond the reach of any NASA
censors. He describes a phenomenon
common to all Apollo moon flights;
the claim that he saw a UFO is also
common, but hardly as valid.
Conrad confirmed these quotations
in a letter to me dated April 12, 1976.
"I hope your paper is widely printed.·•
he added. Ref,ming to Harder's claim
of coverup, Conrad could only say: "I
think you have more than your share
of Kooks."