Unexplained phenomenon: Google buzz has a UFO flip side

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http://www.examiner.com/x-504-Space-News-Examiner~y2009m9d5-Unexplained-phenomenon-Google-buzz-has-a-UFO-flip-side

Now its own hot click, the mystery Google UFO doodle and the search term 'unexplained phenomenon' are  bouncing around the internet like  pinballs in warp drive. The sudden popularity of the term and the new logo have sparked discussions about driving news via trends and a possible covert action to advertise the new sci-fi movie District 9.
Whether by coincidence or not, LiveScience is running a special feature: Top Ten Unexplained Phenomena. Coming in at #7 on their list: UFOs.
Which leads us to Buzz Aldrin, the Apollo moon landings, and fraudulent claims by UFOlogists that Aldrin reported a UFO during the the mission. Not only did he not see a UFO, he's pointed out that a video that appears to show him saying just that is a badly-edited fraud.
But the urban legend keeps cropping up, as UFO buffs cite the story repeatedly as established fact. In February, I reported how the UFO claim had been totally debunked. NASA Senior Scientist David Morrison debunks the claim, along with the face on Mars as a constructed artifact, in an article for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).
Here's the video that claims Aldrin reported a UFO.








But Morrison has the real story:

In an interview on the Science Channel..., Aldrin stated that he, Neil Armstrong, and Mike Collins saw unidentified objects that appeared to follow their Apollo spacecraft. To get the story straight, I called Buzz Aldrin, who was happy to explain what happened. He said that his remarks were taken out of context to reverse his meaning. It is true that the Apollo 11 crew spotted an unidentified object moving with the spacecraft as they approached the Moon.
After they verified that this mystery object was not Apollo 11’s large rocket upper stage, which was about 6,000 miles away by then, they concluded that they were seeing one of the small panels that had linked the spacecraft to the upper stage (any part of the spacecraft’s rocket upper stage will continue to move alongside the spacecraft, as both are floating in free-fall). These panels were too small to track from Earth and were relatively close to the Apollo spacecraft.
Aldrin told me that they chose not to discuss this on the open communications channel since they were concerned that their comments might be misinterpreted. His entire explanation about identifying the panels was cut from the broadcast interview, giving the impression that the Apollo 11 crew had seen a UFO.
Aldrin told me that he was angry about the deceptive editing and asked the Science Channel to correct the intentional twisting of his remarks, but they refused. Later, Aldrin explained what happened on CNN’s Larry King Live (left, bottom) but was nearly cut off by the host before he could finish.

So there you have it: no UFO reported by Aldrin on the Apollo 11 flight.
Exploring unexplained phenomena is intriquing, but it's about time that this UFO canard be placed in the "explained" category.
Image/Aldrin PR release


Now with all of the space flights and other launches into space ...don't you think someone would have

seen something.
hmmmmmmmm