NASA scientist ‘died three times’ and saw the exact same thing after every experience

NASA scientist Ingrid Honkala, 55, claims to have had three near-death experiences throughout her life and says each time she encountered the exact same afterlife vision

A NASA scientist who claims to have died three times says she witnessed the exact same afterlife on each occasion. Ingrid Honkala, 55, says she has experienced three near-death episodes at the ages of two, 25, and 52.

The first near-death experience occurred when she tumbled into a tank of icy water at home, the second during a motorcycle accident, and the third when her blood pressure plummeted while undergoing surgery.

Yet for Ingrid, who went on to earn a PhD in Marine Science and work for both NASA and the US Navy, it was that very first experience at just two years old that left the most profound mark on her. She recalled how, as she fell into the water, rather than panic setting in, an extraordinary sense of calm washed over her.

Ingrid, originally from Bogotá, explained: “Instead of fear, a deep calm came over me. The panic disappeared and was replaced by an overwhelming sense of peace and stillness. It felt as if my awareness separated from my body. My next memories are not of the physical world, but of an expanded state of awareness.

“I remember seeing my small body floating lifeless in the water. At that moment, I no longer felt like a child in a body but like pure consciousness, a field of awareness and light.

“There was no sense of time, no fear, and no thoughts. Instead, there was a deep knowing that everything was interconnected. I felt completely unified with life itself, as if the boundaries that normally define who we are had dissolved. It felt like being immersed in a vast intelligence filled with love, clarity, and peace.”

Ingrid went on to reveal that during this moment she also sensed she was somehow able to reach her mother several blocks away, something which prompted her mum to turn back.

She recalled: “Even though I was only two years old, that experience left a profound imprint on my consciousness. During the experience, my awareness seemed to move beyond my body. I remember seeing my mother several blocks away from our home as she was walking to her first day at a new job.

“I remember recognising her and thinking ‘that’s my mum’. At that moment there seemed to be a form of communication between us, not through spoken words, but through awareness.”

Ingrid later revealed that when she brought up the incident with her mother years afterwards, their recollections aligned. She said: “When she arrived, she found my body in the water tank where I had drowned.

“The maid who was supposed to be watching us was in another room listening to the radio and had no idea what had happened.”

Remarkably, Ingrid insists she has had two further near-death experiences since — one during a motorcycle accident at 25 and another when her blood pressure plummeted unexpectedly during an operation aged 52. On each occasion, she maintains, she found herself back in that same tranquil state.

A profound consequence of Ingrid’s experiences has been the loss of any fear surrounding death, which she now sees not as something separate from life, but as a different realm of understanding. As the years passed, she began having encounters with what she described as “Beings of Light” who communicated with her, though not through conventional speech.

She said: “From that moment forward, I no longer feared death. The experience showed me that what we call the afterlife did not feel like a distant place at all. Instead, it felt like entering a deeper layer of reality that exists beyond our physical senses. In that state, consciousness felt vast, intelligent, and interconnected.

“To me, the experience suggested that consciousness may not be produced solely by the brain — it may be something more fundamental. As I grew older, I continued to have unusual spiritual experiences, including encounters with what I later described as Beings of Light, luminous presences that communicated through awareness rather than spoken language.”

Ingrid has partly credited these encounters with steering her towards a career in science. She said: “In many ways, my experiences also led me toward science. I wanted to understand the nature of reality through observation and research.

“For many years I focused almost entirely on my scientific career and rarely spoke publicly about my spiritual experiences. Over time, however, I came to see that science and spirituality may not necessarily be in conflict — they may simply be exploring the same mystery from different perspectives.”

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While some sceptics have suggested Ingrid’s encounters might have been triggered by her body enduring extreme stress, she insisted what she went through ran much deeper.

She said: “These experiences transformed my understanding of life itself. Instead of seeing ourselves as isolated individuals struggling to survive, I began to understand that we may be expressions of consciousness experiencing life through a physical form.

“From that perspective, death does not feel like the end of existence, it feels more like a transition in the continuum of consciousness. Through these experiences I also came to feel that, at the deepest level, life never truly ends, consciousness continues.”