The on Friday (local time) released its second tranche of declassified Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) files, including audio of the Apollo 12 crew, who described how they once saw mysterious “streaks of light” while trying to sleep in deep space.
The New York Post reported that the audio from a 1969 post-mission medical debrief captured the astronauts, including Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean, detailing how they experienced the bizarre flashes despite having their eyes closed.
According to the report, “the each reported that these experiences occurred in the dark as they tried to sleep.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ()’s medical team later stated that the unusual phenomenon observed by the Apollo 12 crew was likely linked to the astronauts’ visual responses rather than to any external source of light.
Pentagon releases UFO files
The 222 files released on Friday were part of the second batch of documents made public on the Department of War’s dedicated UFO website. The first tranche of documents was released on 8 May, after US President ordered the release of government reports on UFOs.
According to a statement from Defense Secretary , “The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.”
In one of the newly released files, 116 pages of documentation were tied to a series of alleged sightings and probes at a top-secret facility in Sandia, New Mexico, from 1948 to 1950. The Defense Department said, “This file contains 209 sightings of ‘green orbs’, ‘discs’, and ‘fireballs’ reported near the military base.”
The Pentagon has reportedly been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years. Hegseth said the documents, photos, and videos of what are officially known as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” had long fuelled speculation.
“It’s time the American people see it for themselves,” he said in a statement.
What did the first batch contain?
According to a Reuters report, experts said the first batch contained new videos of known sightings but gave no conclusive evidence of alien technology or extraterrestrial life. The first tranche, which included 160 files, contained new videos of known sightings.
The first tranche included a 1947 report of “flying discs,” as well as grainy photos of “unidentified phenomena” taken from the moon’s surface during the 1969 Apollo 12 lunar mission, and a transcript of the crew describing unidentified objects seen from the moon in 1972.
According to the transcript, Apollo 17 mission pilot Ronald Evans reported “a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver.”
Trump govt releases UFO files
The incumbent is the latest president to release government reports on UFOs, a disclosure process that initially began in the late 1970s. Earlier in February, Trump said that he had ordered his administration to release files on UFOs and any “alien and extraterrestrial life,” an issue that has drawn decades of public fascination and spawned more than a few wild theories, CBS News reported.
In a Truth Social post in February, Trump told Hegseth and other agency heads “to begin the process of identifying and releasing” any relevant files.
The announcement by the US President came days after one of his predecessors, former President Barack Obama, drew attention when he suggested on a podcast that extraterrestrial life could exist. However, Obama later clarified that during his presidency, he never encountered any evidence of contact between humans and alien life forms. He explained that his belief in the possibility of extraterrestrial life is based largely on the immense scale of the universe, which makes the existence of life elsewhere statistically plausible.
Critics slam UFO disclosures
Several critics have slammed the UFO disclosures by the Trump administration, calling them a distraction from his political woes, including the recent US military campaign against Iran and increased public pressure to release files tied to the late convicted sex offender .
