Pentagon releases declassified UFO files with new astronaut sightings

The Pentagon has released 162 declassified UFO and UAP files, including 120 PDFs, 28 videos and 14 image files that pull together reports from NASA, the FBI, the Defense Department, the State Department and other agencies. Among the most striking accounts is a 2025 helicopter mission in which a senior U.S. intelligence officer reported an orange orb that split in two, changed direction, rose from the ground, approached to within ten feet of the aircraft, then dropped below and sped away.

The files also include NASA astronaut material from Apollo 12 and Apollo 17. One Apollo 17 image from December 1972 shows three bright dots arranged in a triangle above the lunar surface. The Pentagon said there is no consensus on that anomaly and said a new review of the original film is underway. The release also carried a government disclaimer saying readers should not treat the material as an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion or factual determination about the events’ validity, nature or significance.

The release fits into a broader effort to make unexplained aerial phenomena records more accessible without endorsing extraterrestrial claims. The National Archives and Records Administration said on April 24, 2025, that it had received and released new UAP records transferred from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under sections 1841 to 1843 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, with more records to be added on a rolling basis.

The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has pushed the issue into a more formal reporting system. AARO defines UAP as airborne, transmedium or submerged objects or devices that are not immediately identifiable and that may show unusual performance, but says many cases remain unresolved because sensors do not collect enough information. It also says civilian pilots are encouraged to report sightings to air traffic control and that it receives UAP-related pilot reports from the FAA.

The latest files land in a long-running government record of unexplained sightings. Project Blue Book, the Air Force program that examined reported UFO cases from 1948 to 1969, is already declassified at the National Archives and includes about 37 cubic feet of case files. NASA’s 16-member UAP Independent Study Team, which included astronaut Scott Kelly, called in 2023 for better data acquisition, stronger analysis methods, a systematic reporting framework and less stigma around reporting. AARO’s FY2024 report recorded 757 new UAP reports, 708 of them in the air domain, and said total cases under review had grown beyond 1,600 as of June 1, 2024.