Space and Physics
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We are going into the weekend with something unexpected. The US Department of War has just released 161 files related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), the new name for what we used to call unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. This comes after President Trump called for the release of such files back in February.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The files in question date from the late 1940s to 2025 and include a variety of sources. There are several transcripts from the Apollo missions and Skylab. It is not always clear why these have been included, but there is some fun stuff for sure. In an Apollo 17 transcript, for example, the Department of War has highlighted a discussion about some bright fragments appearing next to the spacecraft.
"Now we've got a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver," Command Module Pilot (CMP) Ronald E. Evans said.
"There are a whole bunch of big ones on my window down there – just bright. It looks like the Fourth of July out of Ron's window," Lunar Module Pilot Harrison H. Schmitt added.
Sure, that sounds mysterious – but both NASA and the astronauts state possible explanations for what was seen in that very transcript. They suggest it was either ice forming on the side of the third stage on the Saturn V or maybe paint peeling off; Commander Eugene Cernan had actually reported paint peeling off before launch.
There’s also a picture from the surface of the Moon taken by Apollo 17 that will be analyzed, as three dots appear in the sky when magnified. Similarly, a bunch of images from Apollo 12 show what appear to be dots in the sky. It is unclear these are due to a defect in the image film, an artifact of the camera, a star or planet, or something else. The Department of War is investigating.
"This is an unprecedented, historic undertaking that requires coordination between dozens of agencies and the review of tens of millions of records, many existing only on paper, spanning many decades," the text on the Department of War's UFO website reads.
"Given the scope of this task, the Department of War will be releasing new materials on a rolling basis as they are discovered and declassified, with tranches posted every few weeks."
Critics online were quick to point out if this should be a priority for the Department and its secretary, Pete Hegseth, in the midst of the war against Iran, which has been going since February 28 and is currently experiencing breaches of ceasefire and stalled negotiations.
The Trump administration's decisive commitment to the release of these documents followed a peculiar interview with former President Barack Obama that caused a bit of a stir back in February.
During a lightning round of questions, podcast host and journalist Brian Tyler Cohen asked the former president, "Are aliens real?" Obama answered: "They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in … what is it …?"
"Area 51?" Cohen guessed. Obama then replied: "Area 51. There’s no underground facility. Unless there’s this enormous conspiracy, and they hid it from the President of the United States."
As the interview went viral, President Trump was asked about aliens too, and told reporters that "[Obama] gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that. I don't know if they're real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that – he made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information."
A few days later, Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social that he directed Hegseth and other departments and agencies to release files related to aliens, extraterrestrial life, and UAPs.
