Russian politician claims aliens abducted him!

London, May 6 (ANI): A prominent Russian politician has laid claim that aliens abducted him.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the leader of the country’s southern region of Kalymkia, told television host Vladimir Pozner on Channel One on April 26 that he had spent several hours in the company of aliens wearing yellow spacesuits.

Ilyumzhinov, 48, said the aliens visited his apartment in downtown Moscow on September 18, 1997, and that as he was falling asleep he heard someone calling him from the balcony.

He went outside and saw the spaceship, which was a “half-transparent half tube”, and when he entered he met human-like creatures in yellow spacesuits, who he was not able to communicate with.

“I am often asked which language I used to talk to them. Perhaps, it was on a level of the exchange of ideas,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

Ilyumzhinov said the aliens gave him a tour of their spaceship, and that they had come to planet Earth to take samples – and claims to have several witnesses.

Now another politician, Russian MP Andre Lebedev, who fears Ilyumzhinov may have divulged state secrets, has urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate the matter.

Lebedev, who wrote a letter to Medvedev raising a list of his concerns, asked for guidelines on what politicians should do if aliens abduct them.

In his letter he says that, assuming the whole thing was not just a bad joke, it was an historic event and should have been reported to the Kremlin.

He also asks if there are official guidelines for what government officials should do if contacted by aliens, especially if those officials have access to state secrets. (ANI)

NASA concludes tests for prototype Moon rovers

Washington, September 16 (ANI): NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency’s prototype lunar rovers.

“These tests provide us with crucial information about how our cutting edge vehicles perform in field situations approximating the moon,” said Rob Ambrose, Human Robotic Systems project lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“We learn from them, then go back home to refine the technology and plan the next focus of our research,” he added.

The annual studies featured an intensive, simulated 14-day mission.

Two crew members, an astronaut and a geologist, lived for more than 300 hours inside NASA’s prototype Lunar Electric Rover.

The explorers scouted the area for features of geological interest, then donned spacesuits and conducted simulated moonwalks to collect samples.

The crew also docked to a simulated habitat, drove the rover across difficult terrain, performed a rescue mission and made a four-day traverse across the lava.

Throughout the test, the crew provided updates via Twitter and posted pictures and video online.

Prior to the test, NASA’s K10 scout robot identified areas of interest for the crew to explore.

NASA’s heavy-lift rover Tri-ATHLETE – or All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer – carried a habitat mockup to which the rover docked. (ANI)