Pentagon Releases Apollo Transcripts of Astronaut UFO Sightings on Moon

Declassified transcripts from Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 missions reveal astronauts describing unexplained lights and objects while orbiting the moon and walking on its surface.

The Pentagon released the transcripts and photos Friday as part of a larger disclosure of dozens of photos and documents on UFO sightings dating to the 1950s. The materials cover unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, in line with a directive from President Donald Trump to boost government transparency on such reports. All sightings remain unsolved, and tens of millions of documents are under review for rolling releases.

The documents feature technical transcripts and photos from Apollo 12 in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972. Crews reported strange flashes, moving lights and unidentified objects against the lunar horizon.

Six photos from Apollo 12 astronauts on the moon's surface show unidentified, oddly shaped lights in the sky. One photo contains five UFOs.

A four-page Apollo 12 transcript captures an astronaut telling command about lights in the dark sky. He said they were "sailing off into space."

"I was thinking they're dropping off from my water boiler, but it looks like some of those things are escaping the moon. They really haul out of here and just press off at the stars," the astronaut said. He added that the lights were "pulsing every second." Command proposed electromagnetic interference from man-made or natural sources.

A 16-page Apollo 17 transcript describes lights seen from a window that resembled "Fourth of July."

"They're very jagged, angular fragments that are tumbling," one astronaut said.

Another astronaut recalled bright "peripheral horizon-type things" that hindered sleep. "The last one I remember before falling asleep — was the fact that there was a very bright spot that flashed right between my eyes like a very bright headlight — like a train coming at you, only with a flash," he said.

More UAP files are available at WAR.GOV/UFO.