The Trump administration has released more than 160 classified files linked to UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), revealing decades of reports involving astronauts, military personnel and civilians. President Donald Trump said the files were released because of the “tremendous interest shown” by the public.
The documents include astronaut transcripts, military reports, witness interviews and videos involving unexplained aerial sightings. Several records relate to NASA’s Apollo missions and describe unusual objects, flashing lights and drifting particles seen in space.
Apollo Astronauts Reported Unusual Sightings
One of the most closely watched documents is a technical debriefing from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin described seeing a large unidentified object
while travelling toward the Moon. He said, “The first unusual thing that we saw I guess was 1 day out or something pretty close to the moon. It had a sizeable dimension to it, so we put the monocular on it.”
The Apollo 11 crew later suggested the object may have been part of the Saturn V rocket used during launch.
Aldrin also described seeing “little flashes inside the cabin, spaced a couple of minutes apart” and “a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser.”
Apollo 12 astronauts also reported seeing illuminated particles and flashes near their spacecraft. During Apollo 17, astronauts described “very bright particles or fragments” drifting close to the spacecraft shortly after launch. Astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt compared the scene to “the Fourth of July.”
Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan also reported intense flashing lights while trying to sleep in deep space.
Reports From Military And Civilians
The files also contain more recent UAP sightings reported by military personnel and civilians.
One FBI document from 1957 details a witness account describing a large circular object rising vertically near a German military compound during World War II.
Another report from March 2023 described a “large blue featureless triangular object” hovering near a national security facility for around three minutes.
In Syria in November 2023, US Air Force personnel reportedly observed a UAP “shaped as a bouncy ball” before it disappeared from range.
The documents also include a 2024 military video showing an unidentified object with what officials described as “a vertical pole or bar attached to the bottom.”
Push For Transparency
Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who has strongly backed UFO disclosure efforts, called the release “a massive first step in the right direction.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the release was “the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort.
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