James Oberg
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 4
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Oberg, Jim Oberg |
James Oberg (born 1944) is an American space journalist and former NASA engineer, known for his expertise on the Russian space programme and for his skeptical explanations of UFO reports involving spacecraft and rockets.[1]
Career
Oberg studied mathematics and astrodynamics, served in the US Air Force, where he helped test the ARPANET, and joined NASA in 1975. Over 22 years at the Johnson Space Center he worked in Mission Control on Space Shuttle missions from STS-1 onward, specialising in orbital rendezvous, and helped plan the first International Space Station assembly flight, STS-88.[1] He became one of the leading Western experts on Soviet and Russian spaceflight and has testified to Congress on the subject. He left NASA in 1997 to write full-time and has worked as a space consultant for NBC News and other broadcasters.[1]
UFO explanations
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Oberg is a fellow of the skeptical organisation CSICOP and has written many explanations of UFO reports. He groups many space-related sightings into a few types:[1]
- High-altitude plumes. Rocket and missile exhaust lit by the Sun against a dark sky.
- Space "dandruff". Ice flakes and bits of insulation drifting near a spacecraft and seen by its cameras.
- Twilight shadowing. Objects that seem to appear suddenly as they move out of the Earth's shadow into sunlight.
He identified the dark object photographed during STS-88, often presented as the "Black Knight satellite", as a thermal blanket lost during a spacewalk.[1][2]
Other work
NASA once commissioned Oberg to write a rebuttal of Moon-landing conspiracy theories, but dropped the project after press attention.[1] He also campaigned for Robert Lawrence Jr., who died in 1967, to be recognised as a US astronaut, which the Air Force granted in 1997.[1]
References
- James Oberg — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Black Knight satellite conspiracy theory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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