An astronaut who has walked on the moon says aliens are responsible for stopping a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, according to Mirror Online.

Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man on the moon and part of the Apollo 14 mission, says that top-ranking military officials saw UFOs during weapons testing.

Mitchell has believed in aliens for quite some time. He has made his beliefs public since landing on the moon. He now is one of the most prominent figures in the UFO community.

Mitchell told the Mirror Online that military insiders saw strange aircraft flying over missile bases and the White Sands facility, where the first nuclear bomb was detonated in 1945.

Mitchell's upbringing in New Mexico could have caused his belief in aliens. Mitchell grew up near Roswell, where one of the most famous UFOs was supposedly spotted and also near the bomb testing zone.

"You don't know the area like I do," he said in an interview with Mirror Online.

"White Sands was a testing ground for atomic weapons -- and that's what the extraterrestrials were interested in.

"They wanted to know about our military capabilities.

"My own experience talking to people has made it clear the ETs had been attempting to keep us from going to war and help create peace on Earth."

Mitchell said he is not the only one who believes the aliens may have stopped a nuclear war. He said he has heard stories from people who manned military bases during the tense time period between the United States and Russia.

"I have spoken to many Air Force officers who worked at these silos during the Cold War," he said.

"They told me UFOs were frequently seen overhead and often disabled their missiles.

"Other officers from bases on the Pacific coast told me their [test] missiles were frequently shot down by alien spacecraft. There was a lot of activity in those days."

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defense UFO researcher, said that Mitchell's claims are not exactly true.

Pope said Mitchell's claims are based on what other people have seen and not what he has experienced. He also argued Mitchell won't reveal his sources or give any names.

Pope added aliens coming to Earth and warning humans they are about to make a big mistake by getting involved in a nuclear war is a good thought, but it is more like something out of a movie.

"There have certainly been some intriguing UFO sightings around nuclear facilities, and around military bases more generally, but an alternative explanation is that some of these sightings are attributable to espionage activity involving secret spy planes or drones," Pope said.