An archival photo depicting the lunar surface as viewed from the Apollo 12 landing site. Astronauts reported seeing an unidentified light source above the lunar horizon, marked in the box. (Image credit: NASA) Share this article 0 Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter UFOs have come to Washington again — this time, in a newly released tranche of more than 150 previously classified documents that cover nearly 80 years of alleged sightings.
Available to read today (May 8) on the Department of Defense website, the 162 newly declassified documents, photos, and videos cover reports of UFOs and UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena, the government's preferred name for such sightings today) dating back as far as 1947.
"The materials archived here are unresolved cases, meaning the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena," DOD representatives wrote on the agency's website. "This can occur for a variety of reasons, including a lack of sufficient data."
Are there any aliens?
Due to the poor data quality, the reports do not contain any compelling evidence of alien intelligence.
While NASA has not weighed in directly on the newly declassified files — save for a statement of support from Administrator Jared Isaacman — the space agency's official position remains that UAP are real but they have nothing to do with aliens.
"Are there any data supporting the idea that UAP are evidence of alien technologies?
Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter nowContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsNo," NASA's official UAP webpage states. "Most UAP sightings result in very limited data, making it difficult to draw scientific conclusions."
Indeed, NASA conducted its own independent investigation into UAP sightings in 2022 and 2023 and found no evidence of alien activity, again pointing to low-quality data among the alleged sightings.
A composite image of a field where an alleged UAP sighting of an "“ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky"” took place in 2023. The FBI has added a sketch of what this ellipsoid might look like.
(Image credit: NASA)What did the NASA astronauts see?
Some of the most interesting documents, from a historical perspective, are files related to UFO sightings reported by NASA astronauts in the 1960s. They include a transcript and newly released audio recording of two NASA astronauts reporting an unidentified object in Earth orbit during the 1965 Gemini VII mission.
Just four hours into the flight on Dec. 5, 1965, astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell reported seeing a "bogey" (military slang for an unidentified aircraft) out their spacecraft window, which Borman describes as "hundreds of little particles going by."
When NASA ground control pressed Borman on whether it could be a piece of the recently detached rocket booster, the astronauts said no, maintaining that they could see the booster in a separate part of orbit. The Gemini spacecraft soon drifted away from the object, never to see it again.
A photo of the moon taken by Apollo 12 astronauts shows unidentified lights in five different regions of the sky.
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The files also include photos and transcripts from the Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 missions, in which astronauts describe seeing various unidentified "flashes" and "particles of light" on the moon. These cases, like the others, remain unresolved due to a lack of sufficient data.
So, if they're not aliens, what are UAP? According to a 2022 DOD investigation, most UAP sightings can be explained by birds, optical illusions, poor-quality photographs and foreign surveillance technology. Many UAP files remain classified not due to the object sightings themselves, but because of the sensitive military technology used to record them, according to NASA.
The DOD plans to release additional declassified UAP documents every few weeks for the near future.
Are you a UFO fanatic? Find out with our extraterrestrials quiz!
Brandon SpecktorEditorBrandon is the space / physics editor at Live Science. With more than 20 years of editorial experience, his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in journalism and media arts. His interests include black holes, asteroids and comets, and the search for extraterrestrial life.
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