SCI FI PI

In the greatest "I knew it all along!' news for UFOlogists ever, Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell has claimed aliens exist.

According to Dr Mitchell, 77, the 'grey' alien - as seen in Close Encounters and Stargate (among others!) is pretty much dead on.

He went on to say our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would have been gone by now".

Dr Mitchell also confirmed that the Roswell alien space crash was real and that similar alien visits continue to be investigated.

"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," Dr Mitchell said.

Radio host Nick Margerrison assumed these revelations were in fact a joke, but soon realised Mitchell was serious.

Mitchell went on to sketch out that knowledge of the existence of UFOs and aliens is nothing new: "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.

"I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."

Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "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.'