NASA astronaut saw something ‘alien-like’ and called to clarify what it was

A NASA astronaut once thought he saw something very strange 'floating out of the payload bay' and had to phone home to ask about it.

Leland Melvin was a NASA engineer and former astronaut and flew two missions into space on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Both times he visited the International Space Station to deliver equipment and Melvin has logged a grand total of 565 hours in space.

However, years after be ventured into space, he was asked about his view on alien life in the solar system and UFOs.

An account on Twitter named UFO News asked the astronaut whether he thought we were alone in our solar system and if he'd 'ever witnessed a UFO'.

After all, a NASA boss has admitted the space agency is constantly on the lookout for extraterrestrials, so maybe they'd finally found some.

Bob Levey/Getty Images for National Geographic Documentary Films

Melvin's view on the matter was that he hadn't seen an alien but he once 'thought I saw something organic/alien like floating out of the payload bay'.

He explained that he 'called the ground to ask what it could be' and was told that what he saw was not some extra-terrestrial life form but 'ice that had broken off of the Freon hoses'.

"Translucent, curved, organic looking," the astronaut described it as, adding the alien emoji to his answer.

So there you go, it looked a bit like an alien but was actually just a chunk of ice.

Or perhaps it was an alien which had cleverly disguised itself as a chunk of ice, but you'd probably have expected E.T. to have done something in the years since that incident.

Twitter/@Astro_Flow

Naturally when he said this there were plenty more questions from those who believe the truth is out there and not just a floating fragment of ice.

Responding to another question, Melvin said he was going to utter those immortal words 'Houston, we have a problem' but he knew what sort of reaction that was likely to provoke on the ground.

Such words might have triggered fears that there was another Apollo 13 incident on their hands rather than a suspicious chunk of something floating out of the payload bay.

When the same UFO dedicated account asked the astronaut whether he thought NASA lied to him about what the floating thing was to cover the existence of aliens he said 'don't think so but you never know'.

Sorry, those who hoped aliens had been spotted, it's still not confirmed.