NASA shares images of ‘flying saucer’ that crashed in Utah desert

NASA has shared a photo of a “flying saucer” that crashed into the Utah desert 14 years ago.

But before you celebrate your long-held belief that something really is out there, know this: the “flying saucer” wasn’t from an alien vehicle at all.

NASA recently shared the image through its Astronomy Picture of the Day. It shows what appears to be pieces of some sort of object that plowed into the desert sand near Granite Peak in Utah.

“A flying saucer from outer space crash-landed in the Utah desert after being tracked by radar and chased by helicopters,” NASA said before adding, “The year was 2004, and n space aliens were involved.”

The saucer was actually the Genesis sample return capsule, part of a human-made robot Genesis spaceship launched by NASA in 2001 to study the sun. The capsule’s parachutes didn’t open as planned as it was traveling back to Earth at a speed of some 186 mph, prompting it to have what the U.S. space agency described as an “unexpectedly hard landing.”

Despite the crash, NASA was able to use many of the samples that remained in the capsule. That information has “provided intriguing clues into details of how the Sun and planets formed billions of years ago,” NASA said.