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Ed Mitchell Interview
Ed Mitchell Has Walked On The Moon. We Asked Him Why He Believes In UFOS.
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Quick Bio
Sage advice can be gleaned indirectly from the words of men who've done amazing things. In this interview series by Jim Clash called "The Right Stuff," we share nuggets of wisdom from great men who've taken big risks in life -- boxers, balloonists, test pilots, astronauts, mountain climbers, ocean divers, scientists, Olympians, race car drivers -- and come out the better for it.What exactly is the right stuff? Other than the name of a famous movie about the space race, it’s a state of mind. The term is a throwback to a time when character counted -- when men routinely risked their lives not to get rich, bloviate or self-aggrandize, but for their country, science, exploration and the joy of pure competition.
Clash, a fellow and director at The Explorers Club, is a seasoned adventurer himself. In reporting for Forbes and other publications over the last two decades, he has skied to the South Pole; driven the Bugatti Veyron at its top speed of 253 mph; flown in a MiG-25 at Mach 2.6 to the edge of space; visited the North Pole twice; and climbed the Matterhorn, 23,000-foot Aconcagua and virgin peaks in Antarctica and Greenland. He has also purchased a ticket from Virgin Galactic Airways to fly into suborbital space.
If a Ph.D. from M.I.T. who walked on the moon and was a fighter pilot during the Korean War told you that extraterrestrial UFOs have visited Earth -- and that the government knows about it and has covered it up -- would you dismiss the man as a loon or listen for more details?
Apollo 14’s Ed Mitchell, the sixth of only 12 men to step onto the lunar surface, is such a person. Of the seven moonwalkers I have interviewed, he is the only one who will go on record about his controversial belief in UFOs.
Mitchell, 83, earned a B.S. from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952. While on active duty in the U.S. Navy, he also completed an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, then a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1970, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Richard M. Nixon and in 1973 founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences. His engaging tome, The Way of the Explorer (New Page Books, 2008), probes Mitchell’s personal journey through mysticism and space.
I had a rare chance to chat with the retired U.S. Navy Captain who, in 1998, was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. He was measured and thoughtful. Following are edited excerpts from a longer conversation.