The expert believes such UFO hoaxes and conspiracies can be harmful, in particular, for children interested in space exploration.
He said: “They are insulting because belief that these stories are authentic requires the belief that generations of space workers, including astronauts, are liars, cowards, and/or fools.
“It’s even insulting to its believers, since the common manifestations of these stories on YouTube, pulp magazines, TV documentaries, and elsewhere generally seem to assume that the target audience consists of credulous eager-believers who know nothing about real space flight and prefer ego-boosting make-believe to difficult research and explication.”
As far as NASA is concerned, there is no evidence of alien life anywhere in the solar system that we have encountered.
