by Frank Bergman

A former NASA contractor with top-secret security clearance has blown the whistle and accused the space agency of quietly removing evidence of UFOs from photos before releasing them to the public.

The explosive allegations were made by Donna Hare, a former NASA contractor who worked as a technical illustrator for Philco Ford Aerospace from 1967 to 1981.

Hare, who died in 2021, said she learned from a NASA photo lab technician that images of unidentified flying objects were routinely airbrushed out before satellite photos were sold or released to the public.

Her claims have resurfaced online amid renewed scrutiny of NASA’s handling of images connected to the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS.

Some scientists have suggested the object may have been alien technology passing near Earth, while NASA and the U.S. government continue to insist there is no proof of alien life or extraterrestrial craft visiting the planet.

Former Contractor Says NASA Worker Showed Her UFO Image

Hare first publicly shared her claims in May 2001 during the Disclosure Project press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

She later repeated the allegations in multiple interviews.

According to Hare, the incident took place in 1970 or 1971 while she was inside a restricted photo lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

She said a photo lab technician showed her an image featuring a round white object with sharply defined edges hovering above a field of pine trees.

Hare said she had never seen anything like it.

She asked the technician if the object was a UFO.

According to Hare, the technician replied: “I can’t tell you that.”

Hare said she understood the answer as confirmation that the object was not something ordinary.

“I knew he meant ‘it was,’ but he couldn’t tell me, so I said ‘what are you going to do with this information?’ and he said ‘well, we always have to airbrush them out before we sell them to the public,’” Hare said.

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The original photo has never been released.

The technician’s name has never been publicly confirmed.

NASA has not acknowledged any official policy of airbrushing UFOs from public images.

Hare Claims Apollo Astronauts Saw Alien Craft

Hare also claimed that NASA astronauts privately discussed seeing alien craft during Apollo missions.

During her Disclosure Project testimony, Hare said a NASA worker involved in medical quarantine and astronaut debriefings told her that many Apollo astronauts had seen craft following them.

“This particular man was in quarantine with them and was part of their debriefing,” Hare said.

“He said that a lot of them talked about their experience and seeing these craft follow them. I believe there were three on the moon when they landed.”

Hare claimed the astronauts were ordered to stay silent in the name of national security.

She also alleged that they signed documents warning them not to speak publicly under threat of imprisonment.

Those claims have not been confirmed by official records.

However, Hare is far from the only person to allege that astronauts and pilots privately saw things they could not explain.

Some Apollo-linked figures later spoke publicly about UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, publicly stated before his death that he believed UFOs were real, extraterrestrials had visited Earth, and governments were hiding what they knew.

Mitchell’s former wife, Anita, later said he had privately discussed the subject.

“There were UFOs out there because so many of the pilots and astronauts had seen something,” Mitchell reportedly told her.

She also recalled Project Mercury astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. discussing an unexplained object during a dinner party.

“He said, ‘Listen, we have nothing that goes that fast and goes that high,’” she said.

Renewed UFO Scrutiny Hits NASA

Hare’s old testimony is receiving new attention as NASA faces criticism over its photography of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS.

The object drew interest because some members of the scientific community suggested it could be a piece of alien technology moving through the solar system.

NASA has not confirmed that theory.

The agency and the federal government continue to maintain that no evidence proves alien life exists or that extraterrestrial craft have visited Earth.

But the debate has intensified as more whistleblowers, former officials, and military witnesses come forward with claims about classified UFO programs.

A documentary titled “The Age of Disclosure,” released in November, alleged an 80-year global cover-up of alien life and recovered technology.

Filmmaker Dan Farah spent four years interviewing high-level U.S. government and military figures about extraterrestrials and unidentified craft.

The film debuted shortly before the White House ordered the Pentagon to begin publicly disclosing files that had been kept classified concerning UFO encounters and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Decades of Secrecy

Hare’s testimony strikes at the center of the UFO transparency battle.

If her account is accurate, NASA was not merely withholding information from the public.

It was actively altering what Americans were allowed to see.

The official denials remain in place.

But after decades of secrecy, redactions, whistleblower testimony, and unexplained images from space, the public is no longer willing to accept blanket assurances from federal agencies.

Hare’s allegations add to a growing body of insider testimony suggesting the American people have been kept in the dark about what the government really knows.