Robert Salas is a 1964 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He served seven years on active duty. He worked as a weapons controller, flew target drones, commanded intercontinental ballistic missiles as a launch officer, and a worked as an Air Force missile propulsion engineer on the Titan III program. From 1971 to 1973 he worked as a safety and reliability engineer for Martin-Marietta Aerospace and Rockwell International on Space Shuttle design proposals. From 1974 until his retirement in 1995 he worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2005 he published the book Faded Giant with coauthor James Klotz, which details the UFO incident he witnessed in 1967. Mr. Salas has been publicly speaking about this incident at UFO conferences, on radio, and on television since 1996.