Lunar Sky, north of Grimaldi crater — 11 DEC 1972
Apollo 17 photo: three dots in triangular formation; flash observed north of Grimaldi crater.
“No consensus about the nature of the anomaly.”
Incident summary
Apollo 17 photograph shows three dots in triangular formation, with a flash observed north of Grimaldi crater. Pentagon conducting new review; no consensus about the nature of the anomaly. Witness includes Astronaut Jack Schmitt.
Why this case matters
This incident is logged in PURSUE Release 01 — the U.S. Department of War's 2026-05-08 declassified UAP file release — under identifier PURSUE-003. The originating agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the case is currently classified DECLASSIFIED and rated UNRESOLVED by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). UAP.WATCH mirrors the original record, adds a geographic and temporal index, and links every claim back to the canonical war.gov source.
Primary-source evidence
Declassified documents
- NASA APOLLO 17 — LUNAR PHOTOGRAPHIC ANOMALY ADDENDUM (DOC-005 · DECLASSIFIED)
- NASA-UAP-D2, APOLLO 17 TRANSCRIPT, 1972 (DOC-107 · UNCLASSIFIED)
- NASA-UAP-D5, APOLLO 17 CREW DEBRIEFING FOR SCIENCE, 1973 (DOC-110 · DECLASSIFIED)
- NASA-UAP-D6, APOLLO 17 TECHNICAL CREW DEBRIEFING, 1973 (DOC-111 · DECLASSIFIED)
- NASA-UAP-VM6, APOLLO 17, 1972 (DOC-136 · UNCLASSIFIED)
Video evidence
- APOLLO 17 // LUNAR ANOMALY (VID-006 · EO · 12s)
- APOLLO 17 // 'FOURTH OF JULY' OPERATOR TRANSCRIPT (VID-016 · EO · 28s)