Harrison Schmitt
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
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| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1979 |
Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt (born 3 July 1935) is an American geologist, former NASA astronaut and U.S. senator who walked on the Moon during Apollo 17 in December 1972. As a senator from New Mexico he pressed for a federal investigation of the cattle mutilations then being reported across the American West, chairing a public conference on the subject in Albuquerque in April 1979.[1][2]
Astronaut
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Schmitt was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He studied geology at the California Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate at Harvard in 1964. Selected by NASA as a scientist-astronaut in 1965, he was lunar module pilot of Apollo 17 with commander Gene Cernan in December 1972, and remains the only professional scientist to have walked on the Moon. He left NASA in 1975.[1]
Senator
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Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican and served from 1977 to 1983, losing his re-election bid to Jeff Bingaman. He later chaired the NASA Advisory Council from 2005 to 2008.[1]
Cattle mutilation inquiry
In the 1970s ranchers in New Mexico and other states reported cattle found dead with organs removed, and the cases attracted theories involving UFOs and secret government projects. On 20 April 1979 Schmitt and U.S. Attorney R. E. Thompson chaired a conference on the mutilations at the Albuquerque Public Library. The Justice Department authorised the FBI to investigate cases on Native American lands, and a Law Enforcement Assistance Administration grant funded a special investigation led by former FBI agent Kenneth Rommel. Rommel's 1980 report concluded that the mutilations were the result of ordinary predator and scavenger activity.[2][3]
Later views
Schmitt has rejected the scientific consensus that climate change is mainly caused by human activity.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
- Gabe Valdez and the Dulce cattle mutilations (16 February 1979) — An FBI memo relays a police officer's claim of a cover-up of New Mexico cattle mutilations.
References
- Harrison Schmitt — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Cattle mutilations across Wyoming and the West in 1970s still a mystery", Cowboy State Daily (26 Oct 2024) · cowboystatedaily.com · archived copy
- Kenneth M. Rommel Jr., "Operation Animal Mutilation" (1980), via RR0 · rr0.netlify.app · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 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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