Key figures
The aerospace businessman who funded NIDS, bought Skinwalker Ranch and ran the AAWSAP contract. 15 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Robert Bigelow as a timeline
Skinwalker Ranch4 Jun 2024
History aired the second season of its spin-off Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, eight episodes with Andy Bustamante and Paul Beban. Episodes covered a ranch linked to Robert Bigelow, a Colorado cattle-mutilation site, a petroglyph site and a California desert.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
GovernmentApr 2022
The Defense Intelligence Agency released nearly 1,600 pages on AAWSAP, the program it funded through Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, including contractor studies on topics like wormholes and antigravity. The release followed FOIA requests from Vice and The Black Vault.
Photo: MSGT KEN HAMMOND, Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch4 Dec 2021
Robert Bigelow's Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies, launched in 2021, handed out prizes to 29 essays on evidence for survival of consciousness after death, with Jeffrey Mishlove taking first place. Coverage noted Bigelow's earlier funding of UFO research.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch2021
James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp published an insider account of AAWSAP, the DIA-funded program run through Bigelow's company that studied UFO reports and Skinwalker Ranch. A Pentagon review cleared it with amendments; DoD said clearance did not imply accuracy.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Media28 May 2017
In a CBS 60 Minutes profile of his space company by Lara Logan, Las Vegas businessman Robert Bigelow said he was convinced of an existing alien presence on Earth. CBS reported the FAA had confirmed it once referred UFO reports to a firm Bigelow owned.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch2016
Robert Bigelow's company sold the ranch in 2016 to Utah real estate executive Brandon Fugal, whose ownership stayed private until a 2020 History series. The Salt Lake Tribune cited a reported price of about $500,000.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
GovernmentSep 2008
The Defense Intelligence Agency contracted Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies of Las Vegas for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, officially a study of future aerospace threats. It produced dozens of technical papers; funding of about $22 million ended in 2012.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch18 Aug 2008
The Defense Intelligence Agency publicly posted a small-business request for proposals for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, seeking studies of possible breakthrough aerospace technologies. The contract that followed went to Bigelow's BAASS.
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0
Skinwalker Ranch2007
Former Senate leader Harry Reid later said he asked Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, who ran the defense appropriations subcommittee, to fund a study of aerial phenomena. He said they agreed to unpublicized money in the defense bill, and that the Pentagon put the study out to bid, which Bigelow won.
Photo: Office of United States Senator Ted Stevens (R- Alaska), Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch2004
Robert Bigelow's National Institute for Discovery Science, which had studied the Utah ranch since 1996, ended its work after operating from 1995 to 2004, according to former associates. Its research later continued in a new form as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Skinwalker Ranch1999
Las Vegas real-estate owner Robert Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace to build expandable space habitats, later flying Genesis 1 and 2 and NASA's BEAM module. A Bigelow spin-off, BAASS, later held the Pentagon's AAWSAP contract and ran studies at the Utah ranch.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Skinwalker RanchSep 1996
Weeks after the Shermans went public, Robert Bigelow offered about $200,000 for the ranch and the sale closed in September 1996. His NIDS team set up an observation post; a spokesman said in 1997 that researchers had seen no flying craft.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Skinwalker Ranch30 Jun 1996
Deseret News reporter Zack Van Eyck published the Sherman family's account of repeated UFO sightings and cattle losses on their Uintah Basin ranch, with Terry Sherman speaking publicly for the first time. Robert Bigelow bought the ranch later that year.
Photo: Paul from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Skinwalker RanchOct 1995
Las Vegas real estate developer Robert Bigelow founded the National Institute for Discovery Science, a privately funded nonprofit that studied UFO reports, animal mutilations and survival of consciousness. It disbanded in 2004.
Photo: Bill Ingalls, Public domain
Close encounters1992
A report funded through Bigelow Holding Corporation analyzed 1991 Roper poll questions written by Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and Ron Westrum. It projected that about 3.7 million Americans might be abductees. Critics such as Susan Blackmore said the questions did not measure abduction.
Photo: Carol Rainey, CC BY-SA 4.0
