‘Like Fireworks in Space’: Apollo Astronauts’ UFO Reports Revealed in Pentagon Files

Newly released files from the United States Department of Defense have revealed that astronauts aboard NASA’s Apollo missions reported seeing unexplained objects, flashing lights and strange visual phenomena during space missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The documents were made public as part of a new Pentagon online archive dedicated to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the official term used by the US government for UFOs.

Among the most discussed files are records from the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, during which astronauts reported observing unusual lights and unidentified objects while travelling through space.

According to the released transcripts, astronaut Ronald Evans described seeing “very bright particles or fragments” drifting past the spacecraft as it manoeuvred.

Fellow astronaut Harrison Schmitt compared the sight to fireworks, saying the bright objects outside the spacecraft window looked like “the Fourth of July.” Mission commander Eugene Cernan also reported seeing rotating flashing phenomena that appeared to behave like physical objects rather than simple optical effects.

One of the files includes a NASA photograph showing three mysterious dots arranged in a triangular formation in the lunar sky. Pentagon analysts noted there is currently “no consensus” about the nature of the anomaly, although preliminary analysis suggested it could represent a physical object.

The newly released archive also contains records from the Apollo 11 Moon Landing in 1969. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin described seeing an unidentified bright object while travelling toward the Moon and reported observing unexplained flashes of light inside the spacecraft cabin while attempting to sleep.

Despite the unusual observations documented in the files, the Pentagon has not concluded that the incidents are evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Officials and experts continue to caution that many unidentified sightings may eventually be explained by natural phenomena, spacecraft debris, light reflections, sensor anomalies or classified technology.

However, the release of the files has renewed global interest in whether governments possess more information about unexplained aerial and space phenomena than previously disclosed.

The Pentagon said additional videos, photographs and classified-era records related to UAP investigations will continue to be released gradually through the public archive.