The long-awaited UFO files were released Friday morning, revealing stunning eyewitness encounters with unexplainable phenomena during the Apollo moon missions.
The US Department of War released hundreds of pages of documents, pictures and audio recordings allegedly providing evidence of extraterrestrial sightings dating back to the 1940s.
Included in what has been described as the first batch of UFO files expected to come from the Pentagon this year were the transcripts of the Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 moon missions.
Those files and a collection of images taken by the astronauts on the moon revealed multiple encounters with strange objects that appear to fly around their lunar landers.
During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, astronauts Gene Cernan, Jack Schmitt and Ron Evans reported seeing a bright object that rotated and flashed rhythmically out in space.
Cernan said: ‘I’m looking at what – what Jack was talking about; and it’s definitely not a particle that’s nearby because there is another one I can look at and get a three-dimensional comparison with.’
‘It is a bright object, and it’s obviously rotating because it’s flashing. It’s way out in the distance, as I say, because there are particles that are close by and it’s obviously not one of those,’ the astronaut described.
‘It’s apparently rotating in a very rhythmic fashion because the flashes come around almost – almost on time. And it’s as we look back at the Earth, it’s up at about 11:00 about – oh, maybe 10 or 12 Earth diameters. I don’t know whether that does you any good, but there is something out there.’
A photo from the Apollo 17 moon landing that highlights three dots in the sky as seen from the moon’s surface
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features a highlighted area of interest slightly to the right of the vertical axis of the frame, above the horizon, in which unidentified phenomena are visible
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features highlighted areas above the horizon in which unidentified phenomena are visible
Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan (Pictured) was the last human to walk on the moon in 1972
During the 1972 lunar landing, which was the last NASA time humans stepped on the moon’s surface, the crew of Apollo 17 also reported seeing multiple small objects moving near the spacecraft during their flight.
‘Now we’ve got a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver,’ Evans told the command center on Earth.
‘Roger. Understand,’ the center replied. ‘There’s a whole [bunch] of big ones on my window down there – just bright. It looks like the Fourth of July out of Ron’s window,’ Schmitt added.
Evans reported: ‘Yes. Now you can see some of them in shape. They’re very jagged, angular fragments that are tumbling.’
The astronauts revealed that right after they fired their thrusters to change direction, the crew began to see the bright particles and jagged, angular fragments drifting past the windows.
Jack says it looks like the ‘Fourth of July’ out Evans’ window, with big bright pieces tumbling slowly around the capsule.
The astronauts were also recorded describing the strange objects as pieces of something solid, not fluid, very bright, and mostly moving with the spacecraft but with occasional faster ones zipping by. Evans reported taking pictures of them.
Three years earlier, the Apollo 12 moon mission also reported strange sightings as they neared the lunar surface.
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features highlighted areas above the horizon in which unidentified phenomena are visible
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features a highlighted area of interest slightly to the right of the vertical axis of the frame, above the horizon, in which unidentified phenomena are visible
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features a highlighted area of interest slightly to the right of the vertical axis of the frame, above the horizon, in which unidentified phenomena are visible
While looking through a special telescope known as the Alignment Optical Telescope, in the dark part of the sky, one astronaut in the lunar module reported seeing flashes of light and particles sailing past.
The three-man crew, which included Pete Conrad and Alan Bean in the lunar lander ‘Intrepid’ and Dick Gordon in the command module called ‘Yankee Clipper,’ said the objects appeared to come from behind the spacecraft, before moving quickly into space.
‘They really haul out of here and just press off at the stars,’ Bean said.
Multiple images from the Apollo 12 moon mission in 1969 released with the UFO files on Friday revealed bright objects off in space which were visible from the lunar surface.
NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens issued a statement saying: ‘NASA applauds President Trump’s whole-of-government directive to bring greater transparency to the American people on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).’
‘NASA is contributing to this interagency effort led by the Department of War and the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and we support their effort to share more information with the public.’
‘NASA continues our mission to explore and discover, advancing our understanding of this planet and the universe around us.’
