The Gemini XI UFO

Seth Lamancusa

If authentic, the Gemini XI UFO is possibly the most incredible photo of a UFO ever taken — by clarity, by provenance, by setting, by evidential validation, and by consequence. It was found in the personal collection of a senior NASA engineer, auctioned off in 2023. It was seemingly taken in outer space. A variety of pieces of evidence around the mission appear to validate the possibility that the photo is real, and the fact it would have necessarily been covered up by NASA makes it strikingly relevant to the modern movement toward UFO disclosure.

Intro

Through personal connections, I've become aware of an impressive photo of a flying saucer which appears to have been taken aboard the Gemini XI manned spacecraft launched by NASA in 1966. This is a consolidated account of the investigation of the photo undertaken thus far, primarily by historian Ed Wilson, who obtained the photograph at an auction of the personal effects of senior NASA engineer Scott Simpkinson.

About the Photo

The lithograph was found in an archival quality 3mm non-stick vinyl protector sleeve in the back of a personal collection of historical NASA materials, traceable to one of NASA's very first engineers: Scott H. Simpkinson. According to his New York Times obituary "Mr. Simpkinson joined the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1943 as a mechanical engineer." The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a predecessor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA. When NASA was founded in 1958, Simpkinson was chosen to organize the agency's Cape Canaveral operations in Florida. He led technical management for the Mercury program, NASA's first manned space program. After that, "Mr. Simpkinson filled increasingly responsible positions in the Gemini program, eventually taking over as manager of test operations and mission evaluations." It is his tenure in this capacity that pertains to the subject at hand, as it is through his leadership of the Gemini program that he would have obtained any photographs taken aboard the Gemini XI spacecraft.

Mr. Simpkinson passed in 1996. He was survived by his daughter and sister, but he did not pass his NASA materials onto either of them. His materials instead fell into the hands of Ms. Emily Ertl, his administrative assistant at NASA and longtime friend. Ms. Ertl also had the unique distinction of being NASA's first female employee at Cape Canaveral. When she passed away in 2009, she donated a portion of Simpkinson's archive to the University of Central Florida and left the remainder to her nearest surviving relative, John Ertl, who sold it to the auction center from which Mr. Wilson acquired it. Mr. Wilson found the UFO shot tucked inside one of a total of 27 black three ring binders containing materials spanning the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.

Naturally, it remains a possibility that the photo was fabricated and that the fabrication fell into Simpkinson's collection. This report suggests three facts:

1. As determined in the course of the investigation up to the present, the photo is consistent with authenticity. That is, no information thus far obtained has ruled out the possibility that it is a legitimate NASA print of a photograph taken aboard Gemini XI.
2. Given the broader historical context of the UFO phenomenon, it is not unlikely a priori that UFOs have been sighted and photographed in space. This fact does not imply the authenticity of the photo, but it does make it more likely.
3. A variety of details about the mission warrant the attention of the curious mind.

Circumstantial Evidence

If the photo is real than a deliberate effort has been made by NASA to conceal it from the public and from Congress. The agency is represented on t-shirts around the world. Space enthusiasts have looked to early NASA missions as a source of inspiration for many decades. Nothing stirs the spirit of American patriotism quite like the infamous photo of the star-spangled banner planted on the surface of the moon. But continuously surfacing evidence regarding the history of government involvement with UAP throws into question their reputation as a simple bastion of American science by suggesting that the organization was not only an active participant in, but must have been instrumental to the success of the UFO coverup in general, which began in earnest in the early 1950s with the establishment of the CIA's Robertson Panel. If we take seriously the idea that NASA was an active participant in the UFO coverup, a few facts bear circumstantial relevance:

1. A battery cell onboard the Gemini XI shuttle failed at hour 54:31 (GXI Mission Report), a phenomenon continuously associated with close encounters with UFOs on Earth.
2. During the duration of the D-15 experiment performed onboard the capsule beginning at hour 54:32:12 (GXI TEC Transcript), pilots Conrad and Gordon verbally report unidentified phenomena multiple times, as documented in the technical transcript.
3. Also during this duration, Mr. Conrad questions whether the tape recorder is on directly following 6 minutes of silence at 54:52:17 (GXI TEC Transcript). There is also evidence from the Gemini X transcript that under certain circumstances NASA mission transcripts are censored (GX TEC, 23:50:36).
4. The man in charge of all space photography processing for NASA at the time (naturally including the processing of all Gemini XI photos) was Richard W. Underwood. Mr. Underwood had special military clearances and had flown Lockheed's U-2s in the 1950s for intelligence-gathering purposes (Underwood Interview). The U-2 program was concealed from Congress for a long time using loopholes in the defense program reporting and oversight mechanisms that allowed unclassified programs to remain unreported. At least one former senior military officer Col. Philip Corso has alleged involvement of this clandestine U-2 program with UFO documentation and recovery (Corso 1997). The Simpkinson print has the word "UNCLASSIFIED" prominently printed alongside the photo.
5. In a post-mission technical debriefing, pilot Mr. Gordon confirms sighting an "anomaly" after losing the battery cell, and depending on your reading of the document, suggests that he took a photo of it (GXI Technical Debrief, pg. 167).

Technical Transcript Highlights

Capsule Communicator (CC)
Pilot (P) (Richard Gordon)
Commander (C) (Charles "Pete" Conrad)

Photographic Evidence

1. Third-party analysis of the physical photo, including the paper and ink used to print it, suggested consistency with 1966 NASA printing processes and that the printing process for the UFO was the same as the printing process for the rest of the image (Wilson 2024).

2. Newly acquired National Archives footage from the D-15 experiment appears to contain depictions of a variety of UAP:

   D-15 Frame Analysis

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   While some of these depictions can be written off as particularly bright stars, camera artifacts, or features of the Earth, others have unique shapes or appearances (esp. but not excl. 15108) or match closely the appearance of the Simpkinson Archive UFO* (esp. 15195, 15406, 15535, 15552). Others still seem to demonstrate anomalous electromagnetic effects (esp. 11560, 14988).

3. A photograph taken by the Hasselblad camera (S66-54585) displays an exact cloud pattern match, implying the photo was either taken in close proximity to this photo, or that the UFO was superimposed onto or erased from this photo. A portion of this photo is also displayed prominently in the front of the mission report (GXI Mission Report), but with a different label (NASA-S-66-9017).

   Photographic Comparison

   Simpkinson Archive Lithograph

   

   Hasselblad S66-54585

   

   Mission Report Cover (NASA-S-66-9017)

   

   The cloud patterns in these images match exactly, suggesting they were taken in close proximity or that the UFO was added to or removed from one of the images.

Ed Wilson's Publications

Ed Wilson himself has published two books (Wilson 2024, Wilson 2025) on the Simpkinson photo and his investigation of the Gemini XI mission surrounding it, containing extensive analyses and commentary omitted from this report. It is likely that mission footage remains unreleased, and much of the material referenced herein deserves greater analysis, including around the timing of various frames relative to the transcript and their exact content. D-15 frame 516 is especially unique in its composition, while the potential relevance of experiment S-30 has been neglected in this report entirely, as have the technical details surrounding the battery failure. Who knows what conclusions could be drawn from a meticulous analysis?

Conclusion

One possibility is that the photo was fabricated for a laugh and given to Mr. Simpkinson as a joke. Another is that the photo was fabricated as a deliberate plant. Another is that the photo is legitimate. In addition to the photo itself, aspects of the mission desire explanation, particularly the D-15 frame anomalies resembling the string of lights visible on the saucer.

The investigative work of Ed Wilson and his collaborators, taken in combination with the rapid rate of UAP disclosure ongoing today, suggests a compelling argument for the continuous awareness of and involvement in covering up the existence of UFOs by NASA. Thank you for your attention.