Unexplained ‘metallic orbs’ as soon as buzzed previous a former NASA astronaut’s aircraft as he was flying at round 9,000 ft, he mentioned.

American Leroy Chiao, who was the 196th NASA astronaut to fly in house and the 311th human in house, served on a number of missions throughout an illustrious profession after qualifying in 1991.

Mr Chiao, who can also be a eager mild plane pilot, mentioned he was flying his aircraft again to Houston in Texas when one thing odd abruptly whizzed previous.

Revealing the encoutner to broadcaster NewsNation, he mentioned noticed the “two metallic spherical orbs” which had been round three-feet in diameter and 20-feet away in August this 12 months.

He added: “It is simply kinda dumb luck that they did not hit me. It might’ve been a foul end result, if that they had really hit me. It occurred so fast, there wasn’t even an opportunity to get scared.

“It wasn’t on radar, air site visitors management definitely did not alert me.

“[And] it wasn’t on my show that reveals different airplanes which might be taking part with the [Federal Aviation Administration] FAA-required transponders. I do not know what it was.”

Mr Chiao, who has acquired the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and two NASA Distinctive Service Awards, defined to the US broadcaster that he solely noticed the objects for “a second”.

Discussing what he thought the objects is likely to be, Mr Chiao contemplated: “My first guess is that it is some type of navy program, a drone of some form, however it is laborious to say, proper?’

“Frankly, I feel whoever was working the drone wasn’t conscious that I used to be there.”

In accordance with NASA, a number of phenomena could be mistaken for UFOs, from planets to navy package, and even toys.

Dave Prosper, of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, explains on the NASA web site: “Venus is likely one of the most confused objects within the sky, particularly when it’s low to the horizon.

“Sirius and Jupiter are additionally typically reported as UFOs, in addition to Mercury. When brilliant planets are in alignment close to the horizon they will look like a formation of “unusual lights”!

“Different ‘UFOs’ could be rocket launches, comets, navy jets, climate balloons, sounding rockets, satellites, meteors and fireballs, experimental craft (if you’re fortunate) and odd clouds (equivalent to lenticular clouds) and be confused, in addition to artifacts from pictures which might be really lens flare or aberration.

“Distant management plane may also be confused for a UFO; actually some fashions explicitly seem like ‘alien craft’ simply to make issues difficult.”