Pentagon reopens Moon mystery in huge UFO files release

Newly released Pentagon UFO files show the US government has reopened an investigation into a decades-old Apollo 17 Moon photograph after preliminary analysis suggested three lights in the image could be a “physical object in the scene” – while other records from the same mission describe astronauts seeing unexplained flashes of light “like the Fourth of July out there!”

The Pentagon has reopened one of the space age’s most enduring UFO mysteries after saying a strange object captured in an Apollo 17 Moon photograph could be more than just a flaw in the image.

Taken during the final crewed Moon mission in December 1972, the photograph shows the lunar surface below and, in the black lunar sky, three bright dots grouped in a triangle.

The image has been fiercely debated for decades, with UFO hunters claiming it may show something unexplained and sceptics arguing it is more likely an image defect.

Now, 53 years later, the Department of War (DoW) has formally opened a case into the photograph after preliminary US government analysis suggested the feature could be a “physical object in the scene”.

The image is one of 161 newly declassified files published by the Pentagon last week after President Donald Trump ordered officials to release government records on UFOs, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) and “alien and extraterrestrial life”.

Other records relating to the same Apollo 17 mission also describe astronauts seeing unexplained flashes of light during the flight.

In a technical crew debrief dated 4 January 1973, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt said the crew saw flashes “just about continuously” when their eyes were adapted to the dark.

He said: “We had light flashes just about continuously during the whole flight when we were dark adapted. I had one which I thought was a flash on the lunar surface.”

Other Apollo 17 records also refer to unusual lights seen in flight. In one exchange, Schmitt said: “It’s like the Fourth of July out there!”

The files also include a 1969 NASA debrief from Apollo 11 in which Buzz Aldrin described what was recorded as a “sizeable” object close to the lunar surface. He also referred to a “fairly bright light source” the crew thought might be a laser.

Apollo 12 material from later that year contains similar references, with astronaut Alan Bean describing particles and flashes of light “sailing off in space” and appearing to be “escaping the Moon”.

Elsewhere, the archive also includes audio from the Gemini 7 mission in December 1965, when astronaut Frank Borman reported seeing an unidentified object during air-to-ground communications with Nasa mission control in Houston.

In the excerpt, Borman referred to the object as a “bogey”. The recording also includes comments from his fellow crew member, Jim Lovell, during the exchange.

The DoW said it had obtained the original Apollo 17 film and that the results of a full NASA and Department of War analysis would be released when complete.

“While this photo has been previously released and discussed by keen observers, there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly,” the department said.

“New preliminary US government analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene.

“Additionally, as part of this investigation, the government has obtained the original film from the Apollo 17 mission and the results of the full NASA and DOW analysis will be released when completed.”

The newly released archive spans several decades of reported sightings.

It includes photographs, military videos, FBI material, State Department cables and records from America’s crewed Moon missions, alongside accounts of unexplained aerial objects dating back to the 1940s.

One 1947 report refers to “flying discs”, while another file from the same period records an account by a Pan Am pilot and navigator who briefly saw a “bright orange object” before it disappeared behind cloud.

More recent material includes FBI interview records from September 2023. In one, a drone pilot described seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light”.

According to the interview, the object remained visible for only a few seconds before the light went out and it vanished.

The release also includes a substantial tranche of military imagery, including infrared stills of unidentified objects over the western United States in September and December 2025, and a recreation of a possible anomalous sighting in the south-eastern United States in September 2023.

Other images and clips relate to reported UAP near Greece, in African airspace and near the United Arab Emirates. The archive also includes footage said to show a UAP moving across a US military operator’s screen.

Among the better-known cases in the batch is an object described as football-shaped near Japan, while another entry refers to a US Army report of UAP in North America in 2026.

The DoW said the files released so far were unresolved cases, meaning the government was unable to make a definitive determination about the nature of the observed phenomena.

The release follows a directive issued by Donald Trump on 19 February. Writing on Truth Social, he said he was directing the Secretary of War and other agencies to begin identifying and releasing government files relating to “alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)”.

The department said it welcomed private-sector analysis, information and expertise as the tens of millions of records, many held only on paper, are examined.

In a statement issued with the first release, Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, said: “The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.”

He added: “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”

The Department of War said the public archive would be updated every few weeks.

READ MORE: ‘NASA takes possession of Orion capsule set to pave way for first Moon landing in 50 years‘. NASA has taken possession of the Orion spacecraft that will fly astronauts on the Artemis II mission — a critical test flight that will pave the way for the first human landing on the Moon in more than half a century.

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_{Main image: An Apollo 17 Moon photograph released in the Pentagon’s first batch of declassified UFO files, with an enlarged section showing three lights in triangular formation in the lunar sky. Credit: NASA/Department of War.}