Leroy Chiao, a former Space Shuttle commander with an illustrious career that included missions aboard the International Space Station, revealed his close-up sighting of two metallic orbs while piloting his private four-seater aircraft in 2023.

Flying at 9,000 feet, Chiao described the objects as “perfectly smooth” and “shiny,” emerging out of nowhere and moving directly toward his aircraft.

“There was nothing around me other than the panhandle of Texas at nine thousand feet on this instrument flight plan, and just suddenly these things appeared,” Chiao told The New York Post. “They came right at me.”

The experience left him shaken yet unharmed. Remarkably, Chiao noted the orbs did not disturb the air around his plane, nor did they show any visible means of propulsion—a detail that continues to intrigue experts and enthusiasts alike.

“Obviously, if I collided with them, it would have been really bad,” Chiao reflected. “No one would’ve known what happened to me.”

Chiao’s observations have drawn comparisons to a recently declassified Pentagon video of a UFO sighted above a Middle Eastern military base in April 2023.