Mitchell's interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. During the Apollo 14 flight he conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth.[3] In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has found unproductive, including consciousness research and psychic events.
Mitchell says that a teenage remote healer who lives in Vancouver and uses the pseudonym Adam Dreamhealer, helped heal him of kidney cancer at a distance. Mitchell said that while he never had a biopsy (the definitive test for cancer), "I had a sonogram and MRI that was consistent with renal carcinoma." Adam worked (distantly) on Mitchell from December of 2003 until June of 2004, when the "irregularity was gone and we haven't seen it since."[4]
Mitchell has publicly expressed his opinions that he is "90 per cent sure that many of the thousands of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, recorded since the 1940s, belong to visitors from other planets"[5] and that UFOs have been the "subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and to create confusion so the truth doesn't come out."[6] In 2004 he told the St. Petersburg Times that a "cabal of insiders" inside the US Government were studying recovered alien bodies, and that this group had stopped briefing US Presidents after John F. Kennedy.[7] He has said, that "We all know that UFOs are real, now the question is, where they come from."[8]
On July 23, 2008 Edgar Mitchell was interviewed on Kerrang Radio. Mitchell claimed the Roswell crash was real and that Aliens have contacted humans several times but that governments have hidden the truth for 60 years stating, "'I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real." In reply, a spokesman for NASA stated, "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue."[9] [10]
Edgar Mitchell is one of the astronauts featured in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon.
As well as academic papers,[11] Mitchell has written two books: Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science (ISBN 0-399-11342-8) and The Way of the Explorer (ISBN 1-57270-019-X). In The Way of the Explorer, Mitchell proposed a dyadic model of reality.[12]
He is currently the Advisory Board Chairman of the Institute for Cooperation in Space, co-founded by Dr. Carol Rosin[13] and is a member of INREES.
The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was co-founded in 1973 by former astronaut Edgar Mitchell and industrialist Paul N. Temple[1] to encourage and conduct research and education programs on mind-body relationships for the purpose of expanding "human possibility by investigating aspects of reality—mind, consciousness, and spirit."[2] Institute programs include research in what they call "extended human capacities," "integral health and healing," and "emerging worldviews". This includes research into spiritual energy, meditation, consciousness, alternative healing, spirituality, human potential, psychic abilities and life after death, among others.[3]
Headquartered in Petaluma, California, the Institute's membership is approximately 35,000.[4] The organization is situated on a 200-acre (80 hectare) campus housing an active retreat and learning center. [5]
The institute's name is derrived from noetic theory, which is concerned with intellectual or rational activity, and proposes the idea of an evolutionary shift in humans to a new species called Homo noeticus, possessing paranormal abilities.
The Institute publishes a quarterly review called Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness. However, the Institute lacks accreditation for scientific peer review.[6]
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut. He was the sixth person to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.
Mitchell believed that there is intelligent life beyond Earth and that the government has been covering up evidence of extraterrestrial visitations for decades. He believed that the existence of aliens is a fact and not a belief, and that this knowledge should be openly acknowledged and shared with the public.
Mitchell's belief in extraterrestrial life was based on his own personal experiences, as well as conversations with other astronauts and government officials. He also claimed to have access to classified government documents that confirmed the existence of UFOs and alien visitations.
Mitchell's beliefs were met with skepticism and criticism from the scientific community, and he faced backlash and ridicule for his outspoken views. However, he remained steadfast in his beliefs and continued to advocate for the disclosure of government information on extraterrestrial life.
Mitchell's statement serves as a reminder that we are not the only intelligent beings in the universe and that there is still much to be discovered and explored. It also encourages open-mindedness and curiosity in the search for extraterrestrial life, and the acknowledgement that we may not be alone in the vastness of the universe.