Project Blue Book

October 23rd, 2008

photo taken from mercuryrapids.co.uk

Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of UFOs conducted by the United States Air Force starting in 1952 and ending in December 1969 with all activity stopped in January 1970. Project Blue Book had two goals: 1) To determine if UFOs were a threat to national security 2) To scientifically analyze UFO-related data. Throughout the duration of this project, the committee had collected thousands of UFO reports, 12,618 to be exact. Most of them were considered to be misidentifications of natural phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.) but about six percent (701 reports) were classified as unknowns. The reports were archived and are available under the Freedom of Information Act, but the names and other personal information have been redacted.

Although many have accepted Project Blue Book’s final conclusions as nothing extraordinary about UFOs in general, many UFO critics have claimed that the committee especially in the later years of its duration, had engaged in dubious research, and even perpetuating a cover up of UFO evidence. There has even been some evidence that suggests that not only did some UFO reports bypass the committee entirely, but the U.S. Air Force continued collecting and studying UFO reports even after the project was terminated.

Works Cited/Further Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book