Michael Foale on Letterman

A few years ago I watched a video on youtube. It was a short clip of the end of the Letterman show. Dave's final guests on the show were astronaut Michael Foale and another female astronaut whose name I can't remember.

Anyway, as Dave was winding up and just before the credits rolled, Dave turned to the astronauts and said something like 'I have one last question. Have you guys ever seen a UFO?'

The astronauts reaction was very odd. They didn't say anything, didn't shake their heads, they just kind of glanced at each other looking a bit sheepish and embarrassed. I think one of them may have even looked at the floor.

At this, Dave said something like 'Ok, you don't want answer that' and quickly moved on to say goodbye.

I remember that Dave's reaction seemed quite surprised. He was obviously asking the question as a joke and seemed genuinely taken aback by the astronauts odd reaction.

What I find odd now is that I can't find this video anywhere on youtube. I guess it may have been removed because of copyright issues but what is stranger is that I can find no mention of it anywhere on the web.

Does anyone else remember seeing this or better still does anyone have a copy of the clip?

reply to post by MarrsAttax


It may have been professional suicide if the astronauts claimed to have seen a UFO. There is still a stigma attached to that, and the astronauts do not want to put their careers in jeopardy.

reply to post by kidflash2008


Absolutely, what amazed me was that they didn't just say 'no' or laugh it off, which they could quite easily have done.

I'm still hoping someone else saw this and can confirm my recollection.

[edit on 6/3/2009 by MarrsAttax]

Their minds were blanks.
NASA and Illuminati lies didn't involve astronauts yet.

There is some ATS thread about how few lectures and public shows
the astronauts have been on.

Like they don't know the answers to how it was on the moon.
What did you see.

Its almost like they do not want to be quizzed.
No big celebrity payoffs, they should be bigger than movies stars.
As big a cosmonauts in Russia.

Yeah, sure is a shame.

I've found some more information on this although not the video.

What I found amazing is how much my memory distorted the reality. This should serve as a warning I guess on putting to much stock in remembered events.

However, the truth is still fascinating.

I've transcribed this short article from the November/December 1999 edition of UFO Magazine the erstwhile UK based magazine edited by Graham Birdsall.

Hugh Grant Puts Shuttle Astronauts on the Spot

While promoting his new movie 'Mickey Blue Eyes' on the Tonight Show on 16 August, British film star Hugh Grant turned the show on its head when he raised a question aout UFOs.

This was aimed at two other guests, Space Shuttle astronauts Eileen Collins, commander of STS-93, and mission specialist Dr Catherine Coleman.

The moment came at the end of the show. Grant, who was not even on camera at the time, asked presenter Leno if he could pose a question to the two women.

The camera shifted to bring Grant into frame, whereupon he said, "You're both professional astronauts - are there UFOs?"

The studio audience tittered, perhaps thinking Grant was making a joke. But the look on his face suggested he was deadly serious and wanted a real answer.

Both astronauts looked at him and smiled, but didn't say a word. After a few seconds of pained silence, Grant looked at Leno and said, "See, they know but they can't talk about it." With that, Leno quickly brought the show to a close.

Credit: CNI News & Steve LaMonica

Hopefully this will jog people's memory. It would be great if someone had a clip buried on their hard drive somewhere.

PS note to Moderators: Would it be possible to change the title of the thread to 'Hugh Grant Put Shuttle Astronauts on the Spot in 1999' or similar as the current title is now misleading? Thank you.

It was probably Hugh that suffered from that UFO mention.
In 1999 who was thinking about UFOs?
Where did he get that from?
Oh, perhaps England.
UFOs might be news there back then.

Its only been the forms in recent years that brought the whole
mess up into the net.

UFOs were pretty big in the 90s here thanks in part to the X-Files. UFO Magazine ran from around 1994 until 2003 when Graham Birdsall, the editor, passed away. It was a fairly big monthly magazine, readily available in high street stores, so it wasn't exactly an underground publication.

So yes there was interest in UFOs before the internet

reply to post by MarrsAttax

"...What I found amazing is how much my memory distorted the reality. This should serve as a warning I guess on putting to much stock in remembered events..."

I commend you on fessing up to your misrembering. That is a refreshing rarity these days.

But don't be too hard on yourself. We humans are not so savy with these things especially over time and with age.

Here is a fascinating segment on a recent "60 Minutes" pertaining to just that.

Well worth watching.

www.cbsnews.com...

Regards...KK

[edit on 12-3-2009 by kinda kurious]

Wow. I feel pretty damn old right now, but hell yeah there was interest in UFOs and even internet in the nineties.

Although it is interesting how memory distorts. I'd love to see a clip of that scene, but can't imagine it would be too easy to find.

I just found this guest list for the show in question which shows Hugh being on the same show as the astronauts (just in case anyone thinks I wrote the article myself heh ).

I'm still scouring google for the video!

Originally posted by TeslaandLyne
In 1999 who was thinking about UFOs?

You silly ::tickles:: Of course people were thinking about UFOs well before 1999. I was thinking about them back in the 70s and I was but a tiny little sprout.

Lenornd Nemoy hosted a show that ran in the 70s entitled "In Search of..."; also Star Wars; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; the whole Roswell issue got re-fired back up in the early 80s.

Even before my time, there was a flurry of interest in UFOs in the 50s. Comic books, movies ect

Trust me, the NWO has been working on our psyches for a long time.

Hey OP - nice find! An interesting follow up would be to see if it was soon after this that Hugh got himself in all that trouble with the escorts; thus discrediting any comments he may have made and certainly moving the spotlight.

Originally posted by Whisper67

Hey OP - nice find! An interesting follow up would be to see if it was soon after this that Hugh got himself in all that trouble with the escorts; thus discrediting any comments he may have made and certainly moving the spotlight.

Hey that'd be nice if true Wikipedia has the Divine Brown incident happening on 27 June 1995 though so well before this.

reply to post by MarrsAttax


That link brings up this weeks guest list. The best way would be to find the exact episode number and then there should be a way to get ahold of that episode.

Google Video Link

This is the best I can find so far. Unfortunately, it's just the first 50 seconds of their appearance on the show. But with a little more time I might be able to find the whole thing.

Wow, excellent find!! Frustratingly close to the clip we want!

Regarding the link, that's weird I've tried it in IE and firefox and both bring up the week of August 20th 1999. Maybe there is a caching issue. The pertinent info is as follows:

The Guest List Look Who's on The Couch This Week (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

JAY LENO

Monday Hugh Grant, Eileen Collins and Cady Coleman, musical guest Maxwell Tuesday Sharon Stone, musical guest Mary J. Blige Wednesday Rodney Dangerfield, musical guest Bryan White Thursday Halle Berry, comedian Elayne Boosler Friday Sarah Jessica Parker, musical guest Brandy

Doesn't really matter though now you've posted that video. Thanks

[edit on 12/3/2009 by MarrsAttax]

Check the image posted in this photo.
(forgot to link page.. it was moon scape with black sky)
I mean having access to images from the moon brings up
more problems than solutions.

A black sky.
How would you feel living in a night time environment.
Not even seeing the milky way at night.
The Arabs of yore with sand and sky in the day had the
stars at night were better off.

To bad they were not moon walkers as one never got
much from those except no stars on the Moon.
How ever space station duty and low orbits draw in the
UFO as Hugh must have heard.
A station Cosmonaut related in an interview that UFOs
are quite frequent.

ED: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Yeah, I did see that.


[edit on 3/12/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

[edit on 3/12/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

reply to post by kinda kurious

I just watched the CBS video - thanks for pointing it out. Certainly gave me food for thought.

I don't think we can discount memory entirely, it seems as though the underlying event is till remembered even if some of the details change. I remembered the salient fact - astronauts gave no answer to a question about ufos even though my memory distored practically every other detail In the video the victim clearly remembered the crime but it seems her perception of the attacker was altered after the event.

I was reallly intrigued about how reinforcement seems to cement the false memory. There would seem to be a very real danger of this occuring in alien abduction cases - I note the tendency of people interviewed by Budd Hopkins to report negative experiences whereas those interviewed by John Mack often reported positive, spiritual experiences. Although that may not negate the belief that the underlying event was real.

Seemed to have digressed a bit from the original topic but oh well it's my thread

[edit on 12/3/2009 by MarrsAttax]

reply to post by MarrsAttax

I have every single issue of the magazine,
and attended quite a few of the lectures
back then.When Birdsall died so did the magazine,
I think they tried an online version for a while?
Anyone know what happened to Russell Callaghan
who worked as the photo/film analyst?
Edit: Apologies if slightly off topic.

[edit on 12-3-2009 by Elmer_Dinkley]

Looks like Russell is still online at ufodata.co.uk

I just went through my collection to get the article and found I was missing a couple of issues - very frustrating!


[edit on 13/3/2009 by MarrsAttax]

I give up :p Can't find any other videos besides the 50 second video and a 6 minute video of her on Letterman by herself in 2007. The Letterman video is interesting but there's nothing about UFOs.