Space Jockey Cargo

I see a lot of people talking about why the Space Jockey from "Alien" was carrying a cargo of xeno eggs across the universe? Is this a confirmed fact? Just curious.. When I saw the original film, I had assumed the Space Jockey was a victim of the xeno. He was forced to land and set off a distress beacon and sometime shortly after he died from a chest explosion. He died and the xeno infested his ship laying eggs everywhere. The Nostromo comes along years later and receives the distress call. When they arrive, the eggs are in a sort of hibernation state until the crew of the Nostromo wakes one up. { Cameron comes along after and creates some sort of life cycle that "fits" into something easy for us to understand. He also has the colony living on the same planet but I don't recall any mention of the Space Jockey ship?? Did the Space Jockey run out of gas, land, set off his beacon, but had accidently landed on a planet with Xeno's and becomes victim and his ship infested? I bracket this is I completely understand how Cameron could be completely ignored for Prometheus cannon}