A Pioneering Astronaut’s Unexplained Encounter
A pioneering astronaut who played a crucial role in launching the private manned space program has shared a chilling experience that took place not in orbit, but in his own bedroom. This revelation comes from a new documentary that delves into the life and experiences of Brian Binnie, one of the first commercial astronauts.
Binnie, a former Navy commander and military jet pilot, flew SpaceShipOne, the first commercial spacecraft to reach space. He became the second commercial astronaut in 2004, following his historic flight. However, his journey was marked by an unusual event that occurred in December 2003, just days after a test flight crash.
The Mysterious Incident
On a quiet night in December 2003, Binnie was lying in bed at 4am when he was awakened by flashes of light. Initially, he thought it might be the television, but upon opening his eyes, he realized the TV was off. The lights were coming from the bedroom window.
“I’m thinking, there must be half a dozen cop cars right at the corner of my house,” Binnie said. “So I open the window blinds to see what’s going on. There are no police cars. There’s something I’ve never witnessed before or since.”
The scene outside his window was unlike anything he had seen before. It appeared as though daytime had manifested itself in his backyard, with darkness elsewhere. Within this daylight, there were objects that looked like ball-sized soap bubbles and others that were volleyball-sized and brighter, moving freely around the perimeter.
Two of the lights came towards his window and flew past his body. Whether they were probing him or checking him out, the whole experience slowly dissipated.
Credibility and Background
Executive producer Kevin Curran emphasized that Binnie’s story should be taken seriously given his impeccable credentials. A former Navy commander, Binnie flew 33 missions during the Gulf War. He was also a Princeton-educated aeronautical engineer and a winner of the Harvard Book Prize. Additionally, he was the first to break the sound barrier in a privately-funded vehicle.
Binnie and co-pilot Mike Melvill won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004 for reaching space twice in two weeks with SpaceShipOne. After experiencing the incident, he told his family about it but only decided to go public with the story after filming the documentary.
Binnie passed away in September 2022 due to a heart attack, at the age of 69. His encounter happened six days after a dramatic crash on SpaceShipOne’s maiden flight, which took place on December 17, 2003—the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.
Recovery and Continued Flight
During the flight, Binnie reached Mach 1.2, shut off the engines at 70,000 feet, and flipped the plane upside down for an astronaut’s view of Earth. Upon returning to the Mojave Air and Space Port, he suffered a hard landing that damaged the left landing gear and sent the craft skidding off the runway at over 100 mph.
“When it finally came to rest in the desert sand, a new reality lay in front for Brian,” the documentary’s pitch deck stated. “This might be the last time he ever sat in the cockpit of SpaceShipOne.”
However, Binnie and his wife Valerie credited the otherworldly experience he had a week later with giving him the courage to continue the commercial space flight project.
“I think they were entities that we do not understand,” Valerie said. “Because there are a lot of unanswered things out there. I believe they may have been guides coming to check Brian out to see if he’s ready for what is going to happen.”
Success and Legacy
Ten months later, on October 4, 2004, Binnie successfully piloted SpaceShipOne’s second competition flight, winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize and becoming the 436th person in space. He experienced four minutes of weightlessness and set a record for suborbital winged aircraft flight that still stands today.
The 93-minute documentary, Beyond Blue Sky: The Untold Story of the First Private Astronauts, was released on Apple TV on May 5, following a five-year production process. It is scheduled to be available on Amazon Prime later in the year.
