Edgar Mitchell (1930–2016) was a distinguished American astronaut, naval officer, and engineer, best known for being the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Born in Hereford, Texas, Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a Doctor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined NASA in 1966 and served as the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14 in 1971, spending over nine hours conducting lunar surface explorations.

After retiring from NASA, Mitchell became an outspoken advocate for the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrial intelligence. He publicly stated his belief that UFOs are real and that some governments have covered up evidence of extraterrestrial visits. Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973 to explore the nature of consciousness and its relationship to cosmology, further reflecting his interest in the broader implications of human contact with non-Earth civilizations.