NASA Astronaut Says 2 ‘Metallic Orbs’ Almost Hit His Plane at 9,000 Feet

The year may be coming to an end, but stories about the relentless drone activity across the US are still pouring in.

Former NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao came forward this week with claims about seeing “two metallic spherical orbs” streak by while he was flying a small plane from Colorado to Texas earlier this year.

Chiao, who served as the commander of Expedition 10 to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2004 and 2005, told NewsNation he was 9,000 feet in the air when he saw the strange objects.

He estimated that the orbs were three feet in diameter, with one flying on top of the other—and said they came as close as 20 feet from his plane.

“It’s just kinda dumb luck that they didn’t hit me,” Chiao recalled. “It could’ve been a bad result… It happened so quick, there wasn’t even a chance to get scared.”

The former astronaut added that he did not see the objects on his radar, and was not notified about them by air traffic control or his display that shows “other airplanes that are participating with the [Federal Aviation Administration] FAA-required transponders.”

“I don’t know what it was,” Chiao admitted.

A recent increase in reports of drone sightings—particularly in New Jersey—has led to countless conspiracy theories.

“It’s hard to believe that our government doesn’t really know what’s going on.”

Journalist and author Michael Shellenberger, who testified to Congress last month on his reports of a hidden UFO data collection program, claims to have obtained a recording of a recent meeting of New Jersey mayors, in which the local leaders discussed the phenomena.

“The mayors are livid,” Shellenberger told Fox News’ Jesse Watters last week. “One of them got up there and said, ‘I had two automobile-sized drones hovering over my house.’”

A report from the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office cites metallic orbs as the second most common UFO sightings reported, just behind “mysterious bright lights.”

As for Chiao, his personal encounter has prompted him to ask for transparency.

“It’s hard to believe that our government doesn’t really know what’s going on,” he said. “At first blush, to me, it seems like some kind of a military program, our military… And if it’s not that, then it gets a little more scary.”

“They could tell us what they know,” he continued. “And if they really don’t know, that’s a little more disconcerting.”