Apollo Mission UAP Records
NASA's Apollo program records released under PURSUE — Apollo 12 (1969) lunar imagery and medical-debrief audio of 'streaks of lights,' Apollo 17 (1972) lunar-sky photograph and transit audio about 'particles' near the Saturn S-IVB stage.
NASA's Apollo program is the only crewed spaceflight program with declassified UAP-related records in the U.S. government's public catalog. The PURSUE Release 01 (2026-05-08) and Release 02 (2026-05-22) catalogs together contain seven Apollo records: four imagery items from Apollo 12 (NASA-UAP-VM3, VM4, VM5) and Apollo 17 (NASA-UAP-VM6), one Apollo 12 medical-debriefing audio recording (NASA-UAP-D008, AUD-001), and one Apollo 17 cislunar-transit audio recording (NASA-UAP-D009, AUD-002). The Apollo 17 lunar-sky photograph is the most-discussed of these: it shows three dots in triangular formation north of Grimaldi crater, witnessed by Astronaut Jack Schmitt during the December 11, 1972 mission. NASA has stated 'the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene' and is conducting further analysis.
“Streaks of lights occurred in the dark as they tried to sleep.”
Apollo 12 medical debrief (November 1969)
PURSUE Release 02 catalog entry AUD-001 (NASA-UAP-D008) is a post-mission medical-debriefing audio recording of Apollo 12 Commander Charles 'Pete' Conrad, Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon, and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean. The astronauts describe observing 'streaks of lights' visible in the dark while trying to sleep during the November 1969 mission. NASA's medical team initially compared the reports to those of Apollo 11 LM Pilot Buzz Aldrin and considered whether retinal exposure to cosmic rays might explain the phenomenon. NASA's final assessment: 'the phenomena reported by the Apollo 12 flight crew were internal to the astronauts' vision rather than external light sources.'
Apollo 17 transit audio (December 1972)
PURSUE Release 02 catalog entry AUD-002 (NASA-UAP-D009) is voice-loop audio from Apollo 17 — NASA's eleventh and final crewed Apollo mission. During transit to the moon in December 1972, Commander Gene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans report seeing small lights outside the Apollo spacecraft. The crew describe bright 'particles' or 'fragments' as 'jagged,' 'angular,' and drifting near the Apollo spacecraft and the separated Saturn S-IVB stage. The Apollo 17 crew themselves speculated that paint chips or ice chips were the likely source, noting the particles 'twinkle' and move away from the S-IVB stage.
Lunar-surface photographs
Four Apollo photographs are catalogued under PURSUE as NASA-sourced UAP records. NASA-UAP-VM3, VM4, and VM5 are Apollo 12 lunar-surface images. NASA-UAP-VM6 is the canonical Apollo 17 photograph showing three dots in a triangular formation in the lower-right quadrant of the lunar sky, witnessed by Astronaut Jack Schmitt during the December 11, 1972 mission. PURSUE notes that the U.S. government has obtained the original film from the Apollo 17 mission for further analysis, and that 'New preliminary US government analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene.'
NASA's cosmic-ray flash explanation
The most-cited NASA explanation for in-flight Apollo and Mercury 'lights' reports is the cosmic-ray retinal-flash hypothesis. Apollo-era research established that high-energy galactic cosmic rays striking the human retina at the speed of light can produce subjective phosphene-like light flashes that are not visible to external observers. NASA's PURSUE-released conclusion for the Apollo 12 medical debrief endorses this explanation. The Apollo 17 lunar-sky photograph (NASA-UAP-VM6) is treated separately, as a possible external object pending further analysis of the recovered original film.