If you're unfamiliar with space mogul Robert Bigelow, he is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace, a top supplier of parts for the U.S. International Space Station. Additionally, pilots who encounter a UFO are instructed by the FAA manual to report their experience directly to Bigelow Aerospace, not a government agency - if anyone has insight into massive amounts of documented UFO sightings from all around the world, it's this guy. During a segment on Sunday night's 60 Minutes, aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow opened up about his thoughts on the UFO phenomenon. Although the profile was centered around his company's revolutionary development of expandable structures to be used in space, it also delved into what it called his "obsession" with UFOs and aliens. The tantalizing exchange and the serious nature with which it was presented was remarkable for a primetime program on mainstream national television, especially the venerable 60 Minutes.

Asked by interviewer Lara Logan if he believed in aliens, Bigelow replied confidently, "I'm absolutely convinced. That's all there is to it." Regarding UFOs coming to Earth, Bigelow opined that "there has been and is an existing presence, an ET presence."

Although he didn't explain what his investment yielded as far as answers, Bigelow noted that "I spent millions and millions and millions -- I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject."

And, in a refreshing answer to the question of whether he worries about how the public might respond to his take on UFOs, Bigelow simply said, "I don't give a damn. I don't care." Pressed for a reason why, he mused, "It's not gonna make a difference. It's not gonna change reality of what I know."

Unfortunately, the segment stopped short of exploring what exactly Bigelow knows that makes him so certain about the phenomenon, he went on to assert that humans do not have to travel into space to encounter ETs.

"You don't have to go anywhere," he declared, "it's just like... right under people's noses."

• http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/robert-bigelow-talks-ufos-on-60-minutes

• http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bigelow-aerospace-founder-says-commercial-world-will-lead-in-space/