The Twitter thread was picked up and carried by C/NET, Fox News, and the Daily Mail; adding fuel to the fire of speculation surrounding the tweets.

NASA has long been a target of conspiracy theorists, who have accused the space agency of hiding evidence of everything from alien spacecraft in our solar system to life on Mars.

Further confusing the issue is the fact that UFOs are indeed something the government takes seriously, as seen in the recent UFO disclosure from the Department of Defense prompted by To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science.

Because of this, Melvin's tweet has been given a level of importance that might otherwise be lacking in what could have been interpreted as an astronaut poking fun at UFO enthusiasts on Twitter.

"I think Leland is winding up alien fans, and as suggested it was probably an ice formation he saw," Nigel Watson, author of UFOs of the First World War, told the Daily Mail. "Fortunately, he didn't test this explanation by going too close to it, otherwise it might have shot upwards to cling to his face and we all know what happens next."

However, in this climate of disclosure, Melvin's comments have people comparing him to former astronauts and known UFO believers Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper.