Cape Canaveral - (Dark Side of the Moon Mess): Furious NASA officials have said Apollo 14 moonwalker Edgar Mitchell is 'away with the fairies' after he told reporters a rogue UFO was probably behind the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster of January 1986.
Challenger disintegrated after a solid rocket booster malfunctioned. Official probes have always denied aliens were behind the calamity.
Mitchell, 69, claims he saw 'strange little men' during his February 1971 Fra Mauro Highlands moonwalk and investigated a huge lunar hangar filled with dozens of alien craft.
He says they warned him a rogue faction among their ranks might try to sabotage the US space program.
"They even gave me some extraterrestrial prophecies as a sign of their superiority," Mitchell said today, "predicting that one day one of their very own would become President of the United States.
"Of course, they also said he would first need to detox before convincing Texan voters he'd make a good governor," Mitchell continued.
"After that the way would be clear for a tight-fought run to the White House.
"And oh, they said earthlings would recognise him when a rare extraterrestrial allegry to pretzels outed some of his toxicity issues, heh!"
Dick Cheney is stark raving bonkers.
