Apollo Astronauts, Saucer Sightings, and the Pentagon Just Lifted the Lid

The Pentagon Just Dropped 162 Files on UFOs — And Apollo Is in There

If you ever wondered whether NASA astronauts saw weird stuff floating around the Moon, the Department of Defense just made it a lot easier to find out. On Friday, May 8, 2026, the Pentagon released 162 documents on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) — the official, slightly more dignified term for UFOs.

The files cover 1942 through 2025, include audio, photographs, transcripts, and composite sketches, and live on a public DoD site you can browse without a security clearance. No tinfoil hat required.

Apollo 17: A "Flashing" Object Rotating in Space

The headline grabber: Mission Commander Eugene Cernan and his Apollo 17 crew watched something flashing and rotating outside the spacecraft in 1972. Cernan said it was "rotating in a very rhythmic fashion" and guessed it was a panel from the Saturn rocket. Maybe. The audio has been floating around since 2010, but the original NASA transcript and internal memos are now officially in the public record.

Gemini VII: "Bogey at 10 O'Clock High"

Back in 1965, astronaut Frank Borman radioed in a "bogey at 10 o'clock high." His crewmate Jim Lovell reported seeing "trillions of particles" nearby. Both later clarified they were looking at the rocket booster surrounded by debris. Still, the report wording made for some great reading.

What's Actually in the Files?

• FBI and DoD records from the 1940s through the 1960s
• Two dozen reports from military pilots flying over the Middle East between 2020 and 2024
• Heavily redacted documents — one six-page report has just a single sentence visible
• NASA photos with unidentified objects circled
• Composite sketches built from eyewitness accounts

Who's Running This?

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), set up in July 2022, handles current UAP cases. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the release as letting "the American people" examine "files, hidden behind classifications."

Why This Matters

For decades, the conversation around UFOs got you laughed out of a room. The shift to "UAP" and the creation of AARO changed that. Now the government is openly publishing pilot reports, astronaut transcripts, and decades of intelligence files for anyone to read.

Whether you think it's alien craft, secret tech, weather phenomena, or rotating rocket panels, one thing's clear: the official story is no longer "there's nothing to see here."

The Bottom Line

Apollo astronauts saw things they couldn't fully explain. Modern military pilots are still seeing things they can't fully explain. And for the first time in a long time, the public can read the raw reports without filing a FOIA request.

Grab a coffee, hit the DoD's site, and start scrolling. The truth is finally out there — or at least, a lightly redacted version of it.