During the evening of December 7, 1956, game wardens Paul Kruger, Al Schmid and O.B. Olson were parked in a field near Henning hoping to catch deer shiners. After several hours Kruger noticed what appeared to be an unusual star in the eastern sky. Strangely, the so-called star suddenly rose from the horizon, stayed put for awhile and then vanished. A puzzled Kruger notified the authorities:

“It appeared to be under low-hanging clouds. It was round with what looked like red flares shooting from its perimeter. At first it was dim but then brightened to great intensity like the arc of a welder.”

The Perham Enterprise ran a story on the sighting under the headline “Wardens See Flying Saucer near Henning.”

What was it that Paul Kruger saw that night? Was there a perfectly reasonable explanation or was Henning visited by extraterrestrials?

The 1956 flying saucer incident was not Henning’s last “close encounter.” In 1999, Henning High School grad Karen Nyberg began astronaut training. As on of the few women accepted into NASA’s class of 2000, Nyberg endured extensive medical and psychological evaluations and intense physical training. When asked why she chose to put herself through such a demanding process, she replied in a typically understated Minnesota manner:

“Being an astronaut is a pretty darn cool job. From old-guard test pilots to modern space scientists, astronauts share a common theme of wanting adventure and trying new challenges.”

Nyberg spent a total of 180 days aboard the International Space Station during missions in 2008 and 2013. During her last mission she pioneered the use of social media to keep people up to date while orbiting the earth 2,656 times. She had nearly 100,000 Twitter followers and more than 35,000 Facebook friends.