Astrophysicist Mazlan Othman has denied widespread reports that she had been appointed by the United Nations to serve as Earth’s official first contact for aliens should they visit our planet.

mazlan othman first contact for aliens hoax Responding to the claims first carried by the British Sunday Times , the former director-general of Malaysia’s National Space Agency (Angkasawan) told the Guardian by email that the job prospect “sounds really cool but I have to deny it."

Sunday Times

had reported on Oct 26 Mazlan, who headed the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa) which promotes international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, that Mazlan could be appointed to act as the first point of contact for aliens trying to communicate with Earth.

Frontpage news

According to the paper, Mazlan was due to tell a conference that as the detection of extraterrestrial life is more likely than ever, the UN needs to be ready to co-ordinate humanity's response

The ‘news’ was frontpaged on Utusan Malaysia as well as Oriental Daily the next day.

Mazlan Othman left her job in Vienna as Unoosa director to set up Angkasawan.

It was during her tenure that Malaysia sent Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, its first ‘angkasawan’ to space.