Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2022

16 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 ASTRO PUBLISHING O ne of the many periodic reports of Project Blue Book, with which the USAF took stock of unidentified flying objects. In the excerpt on the side, in addi- tion to the introductory presentation of the project, conclusions practically coin- ciding with those drawn in the following decades by all the data analysis programs collected are reported. C aptain Edward Ruppelt (standing in the center, at a 1952 press conference) was the first director of Project Grudge (1951) and then director of Project Blue Book (from March 1952 until the end of 1953). conventional aircraft, and mystifica- tion. A small fraction of the sight- ings could be traced back to flight tests of experimental military air- craft, while about 700 cases remain unexplained. “Unexplained” should be interpreted as there simply not being enough elements to define the nature of what was observed. For many science fiction enthusiasts, “unexplained” became synonymous with aliens. “Coincidently,” in the second half of the 1950s and with Project Blue Book fully operational, the “field” of ufology was born. The followers of this pseudoscience appropriately ignored the conclu- sions of the USAF, summarized in the famous Condon Report: 1) no investigated sightings indicated possible threats to national security; 2) there was no evidence that the sightings classified as “unidentified” were attributable to technologies and scientific knowledge superior to those of the time; 3) there was no ev- idence to believe that the unidenti-