NASA scientists have announced that this morning’s operation to crash a rocket and a satellite into the moon’s surface in a $79 million mission was a success, and that “the spacecraft performed beautifully.”

The data gained from the satellite, which NASA plans to use to help determine if there is water on the moon, will not be immediately available for review by scientists. Nonetheless, Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission, told news sources today that “We have the data we need to actually address the questions we set out to address.”

Elsewhere, stranger questions are erupting with regard to a video depicting a recent controversial Iranian missile launch. According to sources, the video seems to have captured other, more inexplicable items of controversy. Having initially aired on Fox News, the clip is now being touted by UK tabloid The Sun as evidence of UFO craft in the vicinity, as evidenced by the strange severing of a cloud bank adjacent to the missile’s flight path (see video below):

British ufologist Nick Pope was interviewed for the Sun article, who suggested an alternative. “One theory is that it’s a secret American drone. At any time there are prototype aircraft and drones being operated that won’t be shown in public for years. Stealth aircraft flew for many years before their existence was acknowledged, but the speed and acceleration seems phenomenal. I’m not convinced we’ve got anything capable of such manoeuvres.”

Though Pope suggests the object filmed over Iranian airspace may have been man-made, a famous incident in 1976 involved a radar and visual sighting of a UFO over Tehran, the capital of Iran, during the early morning hours of September 19. Several electromagnetic interference anomalies were observed on aircraft in close proximity to the object, with one suffering temporary weapons systems failure while preparing to open fire. The incident is well-documented in an U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report submitted to the White House, Secretary of State, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Agency, and CIA. In the years since the incident, a number of high-ranking Iranian military officers directly involved with the incident have also gone on public record stating their belief that the object was not terrestrial in origin.

Reports of UFOs intercepting missiles, as well as circumventing tests with nuclear weapons, are prolific, having even been reported by legendary news commentator Walter Cronkite. In his book UFOs and Nukes, author Robert Hastings has detailed a number of these incidents as verified by US intelligence officials. Having happened once before over Tehran, could the recent Iranian incident mark the appearance of yet another UFO craft prepared to “strike” if necessary?

On the other hand, if it were a US military drone, it may be in keeping with a variety of other operations taking place abroad. For instance, last month US President Barack Obama’s administration presented a plan to replace an older plan backed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, that would have placed missile defence facilities in eastern Europe. The news prompted outcry from Russian Foreign Minister Sergie Lavrov, who stated “We would like to receive full clarification” regarding the plan.

One recent US report suggested that the United States might include Ukraine in its missile defense plan also. Defense News reported Thursday that Washington may possibly consider Ukraine as part of its new anti-missile program, adding the ex-Soviet country to its list of potential early warning sites. Lavrov called this move “rather unexpected.” Does activity throughout parts of eastern Europe lend to the possibility that US forces are monitoring missile activity in Iran also? Or, is the strange movement seen in the clouds in the video above evidence some kind of extraterrestrial craft?