                             "Moonfive.txt"


     To  commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon  landing
     on  July 20,  1969, The "Oprah Winfrey" show  invited  five  Apollo
     astronauts  into an open-studio forum  to  talk  about  their  moon
     experiences, both during the mission and afterwards.

     What  they had  to  say  about  their  missions,  UFOs  and  extra-
     terrestrials  in general is worth repeating,  particularly in light
     of the  many "stories" attributed to the Apollo astronauts.

     The astronauts taking part were:

     Edwin  "Buzz"  Aldrin:  Apollo  11  mission.   Touchdown:  Sea   of
     Tranquility, July 20, 1969.  The second man on the moon.

     Alan "Al" Bean: Apollo 12. Touchdown: Ocean of Storms, November 19,
     1969.

     Edgar  "Ed" Mitchell:  Apollo 14. Touchdown: Fra Mauro, February 5,
     1971.

     James  "Jim" Irwin:  Apollo 15.   Touchdown: Hadley Rille, July 30,
     1971.

     Charles Duke: Apollo 16.  Touchdown: Descartes Highlands, April 21,
     1972.

                         *********************


             OPRAH:
     Ed,  did going to the moon increase  your  feelings  about  psychic
     phenomena?

             MITCHELL:
      Mmmm, no, not really.


             OPRAH:
      No, you always believed it...

             MITCHELL:
      Put  it into different terms.   Those are old,  old words,  by the
      way.  Let's use the word "intuition..."

             OPRAH:
      Okay.

             MITCHELL
      ...And  how does  information  flow.   And  yeah,  I  became  very
      interested in that at that point.

             OPRAH:
      Yeah.   I'm an intuitive-based person.   I do everything based  on
      intuition.  Do you too?

             MITCHELL:
      No.  I'm  a  more  linear  thinker,  I've  had  to   develop   the
      intuition...

             OPRAH:
      Not me, I don't go for the linear too much...

             MITCHELL:
      (laughs)  ...It's to learn how to get the balance,  to get both of
      them;  but the point of the investigations of the things I've been
      interested  in; we know how our five senses work,  but  you're  an
      intuitive  person, most everybody's  intuitive  to  a  greater  or
      lesser extent.  Where does that information come from?  Where does
      intuitive information come from?

             OPRAH:
      Uh-huh.  Where do you think it comes from?

             MITCHELL:
      Well,  we're starting to understand some "models"  for  it.   Jung
      called  it the "collective unconscious",  there's information  out
      here.   It's kind of like a field and we just kind of tune into it
      and there it is.  At least that is what the modern thinking is.

             OPRAH:
      When  you were "out there",  did you sense that there  were  other
      "beings" -- not necessarily human -- also "out there"?  James...?

             IRWIN:
      I never sensed anything out at the moon or even beyond the moon. I
      don't know (why) I get that question a lot, because they think now
      we're  experts on extra-terrestrial life,  but I say I don't think
      there's extra-terrestrial life anywhere.  I think the Earth is the
      only place where there's life.

             OPRAH:
      You still think that?


             IRWIN:
      I still believe that.


             OPRAH:
      You all think that?


             MITCHELL:
      No, I disagree completely.


             OPRAH:
      You don't think that, Ed?


             MITCHELL:
      No,  I think the universe is so magnificent and so huge,  and, uh,
      there  is an intelligence  base  in  the  universe.  And  I  can't
      conceive  of this being the  only  planet  in  the  universe  with
      intelligent life...


             OPRAH:
      Intelligent life...


             MITCHELL:
      ...I think that there's intelligent life throughout the  universe,
      we just haven't discovered it yet.


             OPRAH:
      My intuition tells me that too, Ed.  Buzz, what do you say?


             ALDRIN:
      Ed  may feel a little bit more certain about that.   I'm not  sure
      what's going to happen.  It certainly looks as though the odds are
      that  there are a lot more opportunites out there than we  thought
      before, and I'd be very surprised -- and it may even happen in our
      life  time -- that we may find out some evidence  of  intelligence
      and it will come because of a furthering of the space program.


             OPRAH:
      All right.  Alan...


             BEAN:
      Well I think there's probably life out there. But someone said, or
      computed,  that the number of bodies in the universe are about  as
      dense as two chipmunks in all of North America.   And so for us to
      go  and find --  let's say we're one of the  chipmunks  and  we're
      trying  to find one of the others in all of North America --  it's
      going to be hard to do.

             ALDRIN:
      Tough job...


             BEAN:
      So,  I believe they're out there too,  but we're not going to find
      them  any time soon,  and we may never find them,  because of just
      the  fact that they're so far,  far apart.   If we look at all the
      stars  out there,  there's probably planets around them, but which
      one  do we go to?  And if we go to that one,  even the nearest one
      takes four and a half years, come back in nine...


             ALDRIN:
      At the speed of light...


             BEAN:
      That's right.  Then go to the next one, takes another fifty years,
      out and back...


             OPRAH:
      Yeah, I'm not THAT interested...


             BEAN:
      So it's going to be a tough job...


             OPRAH:
      ...I've got things to do here.


             BEAN:
      ...It'd be better if they came here.


             ALDRIN:
      Yeah, it'd be better if they came here.


             OPRAH:
      That's how I feel about it. Charles?


             DUKE:
      I didn't sense any life out in space, personally.


             OPRAH:
      Never saw anybody..?


             DUKE:
      Never  saw anybody,  no UFOs,  nothing like that. But I agree with
      Jim.   I think that we are -- human  life  --  is  unique  in  the
      universe, and I think that's here on Earth. I believe in spiritual
      life.  The scripture does talk about Heaven and Hell and spiritual
      life,  life after death,  but it doesn't refer to anything out  in
      space.  So I agree with Jim.


      [At this point,  questions were taken from the audience. A nervous
      young man asked the following question:- ]


             MAN:
      Um  yes. Do you feel that the Government hides anything  from  us?
      For  example, you see all these  stories  about  people  that  say
      they've been abducted and raped -- women that've been raped -- and
      they  say that it's a real factual story and that tons  of  people
      have seen it...


             OPRAH:
      By ETs?  What paper was this is in?


             MAN:
      Did  you see that show (where)  they said the lights  were  coming
      down  and the police were out watching...?  Do you think that  the
      Government hides any of that?


             DUKE:
      No,  I don't.  Not in NASA.  We were completely open.  We couldn't
      even  have a private conversation without it being blasted out  to
      the world.   I remember John (Young) and I were talking and we had
      a  problem with,  uh, our microphone stuck open and he was cussing
      and it went out to everybody.  No bleeps!


             OPRAH:
      Ed, what do you say, you're shaking your head?


             MITCHELL:
      Well,  I agree with what Charlie is saying about the NASA  program
      --  there was nothing at all hidden in that -- but  I  do  believe
      that  there's  a  lot  more  known  about,  uh,  extra-terrestrial
      investigation than is available to the public right now;  has been
      for a long time.


             OPRAH:
      And why do you think it's kept from the public?


             MITCHELL:
      Oh  well, that's a long,  long story. It goes back to World War II
      when all of that happened, and highly classified stuff.


             ALDRIN:
      It makes for great book-selling...


             MITCHELL:
      Yeah...


             IRWIN:
      And newspapers, too.

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