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Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" on July 21, 1969, were relegated to the world of science fiction and dismissed out of hand by NASA officials. However, according to Otto Binder, a former NASA employee, the agency has a longstanding policy of blocking sensitive transmissions through secret, non-public frequencies. According to Binder® an unnamed ham radio operator picked up the following transmission on a public bypass channel when Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility: APOLLO 11." APOLLO 11: "These babies are huge, sir . . . enormous.... Oh, God, you wouldn't believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there ... lined up on the far side of the crater edge .. . they're on the moon watching us..." In 1979, Otto Binder's account was confirmed by the former chief of NASA communications, Maurice Chatelain. According to Chatelain, Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the outer rim of a lunar crater. Regarding the event he stated, "When Apollo 11 made the first landing on the Sea of Tranquility, and only moments before Armstrong stepped down the ladder to set foot on the moon, two UFOs hovered overhead." Regarding NASAs knowledge of the incident he stated, "The encounter was common knowledge in NASA, but nobody has talked about it until now "37 Chatelain has also alleged that Apollo 1 |'s radio transmissions were rerouted on numerous occasions to hide certain events from the public. To this day NASA officials and Neil Annstrong strongly deny that any UFOs were sighted. Nevertheless, in his book, Our Cosmic Ancestors, Chatelain made a number of startling claims about UFO sightings during NASA missions. . all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin—flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence."**® "I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name ‘Santa Claus' to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public. It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for 14 ‘ Anarraar Ar AMMAN. oma mo mn ora everybody to hear: ‘PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.' Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words." chief of communications, Chatelain was in a very senior position at NASA and certainly in a position to know the truth. He was in the control room for many of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights during the 1960s and '70s. He established a very reputable 19 MISSION CONTROL: "What's there? .. . Mission control calling Regarding code names for UFOs used by astronauts, he stated: Were it not for Chaletain's credentials it would be easy to dismiss his claims. As the