Last month the United States joined a growing list of nations such as Britain, France, Russia, Sweden, Brazil (video), Canada and others, in releasing government data about UFOs. As reported in The New York Times, CNBC, and The Chicago Tribune, the Pentagon spent over $22 billion dollars from 2007-2012 investigating reports of unidentified flying objects, mostly reported by service members, pilots and astronauts.

According to the NYT report: “The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.”

US Navy pilot and astronaut, Edgar Mitchell, shocked the world years ago when he reported seeing UFOs and other unexplained phenomena during his time in space in the 1970s. Citing these occurrences as life altering events, he went on to form the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a scientific group dedicated to researching consciousness and paranormal phenomena. In a series of podcasts he spoke candidly about his experiences, and called on the US government to end its embargo on UFO information (video).

Last year the Chilean government declassified and released a startling video taken by a Navy pilot in 2014: