FigureRobert Bigelow (b. 1945)

Las Vegas-based businessman, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain. Founded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in October 1995 with a science advisory board including Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Harold Puthoff, Jacques Vallée, and Kit Green. Bigelow purchased the 480-acre Sherman Ranch in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah in 1996 from the Gorman/Sherman family — the property had been the subject of intense reports of paranormal phenomena. NIDS conducted continuous monitored study at the property from 1996 to 2004; this is the period documented in Colm Kelleher and George Knapp’s Hunt for the Skinwalker (2005). In 1999 Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace, which developed and successfully orbited inflatable space habitats (Genesis I, II in 2006–07; the BEAM module attached to the ISS in 2016, still operational as of 2026). In 2008 Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) was awarded the sole-source contract for the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) — a $22 million contract championed by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Bigelow’s friend. AAWSAP’s primary study site was Skinwalker Ranch. Bigelow sold the ranch to Brandon Fugal in 2016. In a 28 May 2017 60 Minutes interview with Lara Logan, Bigelow stated on camera that he was “absolutely convinced” of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth. He is the only individual to have privately funded multi-decade UAP research, owned a UAP-associated property continuously for two decades, won a Pentagon contract for UAP study, and built operational orbital infrastructure.