GAITHERSBURG, MD – Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell stated at a UFO conference that extraterrestrial life exists and the government is actively covering it up.

Mitchell is a former NASA astronaut who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission. He is credited with the longest moonwalk in history for his nine-hour walk in the Fra Mauro Highlands region of the moon. Having always had an interest in the paranormal, Mitchell even conducted ESP experiments during his Apollo 14 mission.

Since his retirement, Mitchell has been very vocal about his belief in extraterrestrials, interviewing on Dateline NBC, Fox News and Larry King Live.

Mitchell spoke at the fifth annual X-Conference, an event that brings together a group of speakers to discuss “the governmental, political and media aspects of 60+ years of extraterrestrial engagement and societal denial – exopolitics”. Other speakers that attended included Coast to Coast AM radio show host George Noory and famous author and archaeologist Graham Hancock.

Mitchell explained that, having grown up in Roswell, New Mexico, witnesses “didn’t want to go to the grave with their story. They wanted to tell somebody reliable. And being a local boy and having been to the moon, they considered me reliable enough to whisper in my ear their particular story.”

After these admissions, Mitchell used his highly-regarded status to speak confidentially with a Pentagon admiral, who confirmed the UFO crash at Roswell. He claims he has since spoken to  government officials from three different countries who say they have had contact with aliens. He is now calling for NASA and the government to stop hiding evidence of alien contact and start being honest with the American public.

A NASA spokesperson responded: “NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover-up about alien life on this planet or anywhere else – period.”