Consistent objects and flashing lights - what we learned from the documents about UFOs published by the Pentagon

The documents, including decades, were declassified and released online Friday at the order of President Donald Trump, who said earlier this year he would publish them “based on the extraordinary interest shown”, reports BBC, broadcast Periscope.

The US has seen renewed public interest in alien life in recent years. In 2022, Congress held its first UFO hearings after 50 years and the military has promised more transparency on the issue.

161 files are accessible on the Defence Department website, with others expected to be published.

File publication Friday comes after former President Obama urged further interest when he said in an interview in February that aliens are <x0-real, but I haven't seen”.

Obama has since clarified his comments, saying statistically the odds are that life exists elsewhere, but he saw no “any evidence” during his presidency.

Trump later that month ordered the Pentagon to publish files “related to alien and alien life, unidentified air phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFO)”.

The files released Friday include decades-proposed military memorandums, reports from Apollo missions in the moon, and reports from individuals claiming to have seen an unidentified UFO - or an unidentified flying object - that they suspect has alien origin.

Apollo's astronauts describe flashes of light

The files contain previously classified transcripts by astronauts aboard landing missions on the moon of Apollo 11, Apollo 12, and Apollo 17 in the 1960s and 1970s.

Buz Aldrin, the famous astronaut from the Apollo 11 mission, said in an 1969 interview published Friday that he had seen some inexplicable phenomena during his trip to the moon. I observed what seemed to be a very bright light source, which we temporarily attributed to a possible laser,”, he said.

Transliterations show that Apollo 12 Alan Bean's astronaut, who walked on the moon in 1969, said that without particles and flashes of light “sailing into space” during the mission. The particles looked like “needed from the moon”, he said.

Two astronauts aboard mission Apollo 17 in 1972 also reported seeing flash lights while on board. It's like 4 July out there! ” said astronaut Jack Schmitt. They added that the light may have been reflection from the ice cloth.

In another published file, an audio recording from the 1965 Gemini Space Flight 7 contains communication between astronaut Frank Boman and land support. It reports a glance at an unidentified object in the NASA mission control, describing a “bogey” and “trillions of tiny particles” on the left side of the space shuttle.

Objects That Stand in Hanging From Light

Among the numerous reports published in the files over the decades are dozens of individual claims to look at unidentified abnormal phenomena, or UAP.

A file indicates that a man told the FBI in an interview in 1957 that he had seen a large circular vehicle rising to the ground. There are also interviews from September, and October 2023 in which American citizens report metal items that materialize with bright lights.

Military matches in Iraq, Syria, United Arab Emirates

The files also include videos recorded by the American Army in the Middle East, dating back to 2022.

Images from Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates show what the Pentagon's page calls “Unidentified annomalmen unresolved”.

A 2022 video, filmed in an undiscovered Middle East country, captures an oval-shaped object moving rapidly from left to right, which a accompanying report named as a possible “rade”.

Good first step, but we need more, lawmakers say

Congressman Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, has previously contributed to more government transparency over UFO views. He welcomed the publication of files from the Pentagon, calling it “a brilliant start” in an X post.

Republican Anna Paulina Luna, a congresswoman from Florida, also advocates transparency on the issue. In a statement, it called publication “a massive first step in the right direction. ”

However, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally who has been divided with the president and has left Congress, said the publication was a distraction from the most urgent issue facing Americans, such as price sustainability and war in Iran.