Pentagon Releases Declassified Apollo Mission Transcripts Describing Unidentified Lights and Objects

The Defense Department on Friday unveiled a new website containing more than 160 declassified documents and images related to unidentified anomalous phenomena, including transcripts from NASA Apollo missions in which astronauts described unexplained lights and objects in space.

" Fellow crew member Harrison Schmitt added that there were "a whole bunch of big ones on my window down there — just bright. " Mission commander Eugene Cernan described flashing lights he compared to an imposing train headlight and had difficulty sleeping afterward.

Over the next three hours, Cernan observed several flashing, rotating phenomena that he assessed as corresponding to physical objects in space rather than a purely optical phenomenon, according to the Pentagon summary. A NASA photograph taken in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission shows three dots in a triangular formation in the lunar sky.

The Pentagon noted there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly but that new preliminary analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene.

5, 1965, astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell reported a "bogey" at 10 o'clock high. Borman told mission control, "We have debris up here. This is an actual sighting," and described "very, very many" particles going by to the left about three or four miles, some appearing to enter polar orbit.

The documents also include a transcript from the 1969 Apollo 11 crew debriefing. Buzz Aldrin recounted seeing an object of sizeable dimension one day out from the moon on which the crew used a monocular. He also described observing little flashes inside the cabin spaced a couple of minutes apart while trying to sleep and a fairly bright light source tentatively ascribed to a possible laser.

The files were released as the first tranche of a rolling declassification effort. The Pentagon stated that the American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly with all videos, photos and original source documents from across the United States government in one place.

>"The American people can now access the federal government’s declassified UAP files instantly. " — Pentagon statement, May 8, 2026 (New York Post) NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman welcomed the release. He said NASA would remain candid about what is known, what is not understood and what remains to be discovered as the agency pursues knowledge of the universe.

The Defense Department indicated that additional documents and videos would continue to be made public on a rolling basis. The release includes older FBI files from 1947-1968 containing public reports of unidentified objects as well as more recent 2023 witness interviews describing bright lights and a cigar-shaped metallic object.

The Pentagon has been declassifying UFO-related documents for years. Friday’s publication marks the first batch under the current administration’s direction for maximum transparency. A photo from the Apollo 12 mission showing five unidentified phenomena near the moon’s surface was also included in the release.

The documents do not offer conclusions about the origins of the observed phenomena. Instead they present the original astronaut transcripts, imagery and preliminary analytical notes for public review.