by Sandra Douglas

Created on: February 23, 2008

UFO's, Unidentified Flying Objects, have been reported by humans since men of ancient times first looked into the sky. Possibly the first documentation of UFO sightings were found carved into the rock in the granite mountains of China. The carvings, made by Neanderthal man some 47,000 years ago, depict cylindrical objects with what might be their extra-terrestrial occupants. If so, UFO's predate the emergence of modern man.

There have been sightings of UFO's throughout history, yet the number of sightings has increased since World War II, along with the attention given them by the Air Force and other military institutions in many countries. The term UFO is little more than 50 years old. The term was designated to replace the original term "flying saucer" coined in 1947 after private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a cluster of nine crescent shaped objects. He estimated the objects to be traveling at roughly 1,000 mph, significantly faster than any terrestrial aircraft was capable of doing at the time. Originally, UFO's were thought to be an American phenomenon, although over the years, UFO's have been documented in nearly every country around the globe.

According to a 2001 Gallup poll, 33% of Americans believe in UFO's. The term UFO has come to imply a spaceship or vehicle of extra-terrestrial origin, even though more than 90% of the UFO's become Identified Flying Objects once investigated and can be anything from airplane landing lights to weather balloons.

With thousands of sightings occurring annually around the world, why doesn't science study them? The heyday of UFO sightings occurred from 1950 to 1960's. The phenomena were studied by government funded agencies and privately supported panels of scientists. From 1951 to 1969, the government investigated UFO sightings through Project Blue Book. Of the 12,618 reported sightings, 701 remain unidentified. Proponents of UFO's cite Project Blue Book as a government cover up to explain away UFO sightings while the real studies were being done elsewhere.

In December, 1968, a sub-committee was formed by two committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The Committee on Atmospheric Environment and the Committee on Space and Atmospheric Physics established a joint subcommittee to focus on the study of UFO's. The panel was made up of notable members of the scientific and engineering community. The conclusions of the subcommittee were that the UFO issue cannot be resolved without further

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