A B-50 Superfortress, a plane that went out of service in the late fifties, and which matches the description of a plane lost in 1948, lands in a storm near Thule Air Force Base in Greenland in 2001.

If the King Bird 50 story is true, then some very weird things are going on in our universe, and there are some very weird questions that need answering.  Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell thinks the US government already has the answers.

Edgar Mitchell is no idiot. Well, he has degrees in aeronautics and astronautics, so he shouldn’t be an idiot.

Mitchell has never made a secret of the fact he believes we are being visited by aliens. But last week he claimed the US government has also known this for many years, and that it was time they shared their knowledge and research with the world.

It would be silly to think there was no other life in our galaxy. We know that anywhere on Earth there is liquid water, there is life. We are reasonably certain there is another planet with large amounts of liquid water about 20 light years from us.

Some scientists have estimated there are at least 360, and possibly many more, civilisations in our galaxy.

I don’t believe any alien species advanced enough to visit us will be out to destroy us or raid our planet’s resources. Based on Earth’s history, any civilisation capable of extended space flight has to have high level skills in co-operation and resource management. Raiding or dictatorial civilisations simply never get to the point where they are sufficiently stable, and able to organise and work together on a large enough scale, to develop the technology and resources needed for long space expeditions.

Nor do I believe that older alien species are out there watching and waiting to see if we are sufficiently peaceful and advanced to be able to join the galactic federation, or whatever it is. That is cargo cult thinking.

We are not alone. We know the galaxy well enough to be certain of that now. But are we being visited by aliens, and is the government covering it up?

That’s a whole different question, and well above my pay grade!