Is there alien life beyond our Planet? The question remains unanswered even after the Pentagon’s latest move.
On May 8, the Pentagon released about 162 unpublished documents on “unidentified aerial phenomena” (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Uap). That is, those commonly known as Ufo, sky events that cannot be traced back to known aircraft or natural phenomena. Among the files are also black and white photos from the Apollo 1 (1967) and Apollo 17 (1972) missions, and exchanges between the Department of State and NASA.
By order of President Donald Trump, the release of the documents comes in a context of renewed public interest in the United States regarding extraterrestrial life and unidentified aerial phenomena.
In 2022, the American Congress organized the first parliamentary hearings on Ufo in the last fifty years, while the US armed forces promised greater transparency on reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. Also in 2022, NASA decided to establish a roadmap so that the US space agency can begin to assist research on “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
But what happens after the publication of these files? “The initial collection is hosted on a government website that looked more like a Men in Black movie than the Pentagon, with scrolling black and white anomaly photographs at the top,” comments sardonically Axios. The Pentagon has published a large amount of documents related to alleged alien phenomena, including unidentified flying objects, stating that it is up to the public to “form their own opinion” on the mysteries they contain, emphasizes the Financial Times.
All the details.
THE DECLASSIFICATION BY THE PENTAGON
The United States Department of Defense made the documents accessible on Friday through its website, specifying that more files will be published soon. The decision follows the order signed by Trump at the beginning of the year, with which the president requested the disclosure of documents “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFO),” motivating the choice with “the enormous interest shown” by public opinion.
For his part, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated: “These documents, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it is now time for the American people to see them with their own eyes.”
The Department of Defense stated it is overseeing a “historic effort” to examine tens of millions of documents covering many decades. The operation, with the support of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, requires coordination among dozens of agencies and will lead to gradual disclosures every few weeks, it added.
TRANSCRIPTS OF ASTRONAUTS FROM THE APOLLO MISSIONS ALSO PUBLISHED
Specifically, the documents cover several decades and include military reports, testimonies from citizens claiming to have observed objects of possible extraterrestrial origin, and materials related to NASA’s Apollo space missions. Among the published files are also previously classified transcripts of astronauts from the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, Apollo 12, and Apollo 17 missions. Some documents report descriptions of luminous phenomena observed by astronauts during the journeys to the Moon and during stays on the lunar surface. Among the released images is a photograph from the 1969 Apollo 12 mission showing a flash of blue light highlighted and enlarged against the lunar landscape background.
The files also include a 1969 interview with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, released along with the documents, in which Aldrin states he observed several unexplained phenomena during the trip to the Moon.
A 1963 government memorandum reflects the Kennedy administration’s concerns that the United States was not preparing for the possibility, however remote, of an encounter between humans and aliens, notes the New York Times.
WHAT FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA HAD STATED
Meanwhile, calls for transparency on Ufo have grown in recent years.
As the Bbc recalls, the debate was also reignited by some statements from former President Barack Obama, who in an interview given in February said that aliens “exist, but I have never seen them.” Subsequently, Obama clarified that, while considering the existence of extraterrestrial life statistically probable, during his presidential term he had seen “no concrete evidence.”
At the same time, current President Trump ordered his administration to begin publishing documents related to aliens, extraterrestrial life, and unidentified flying objects. He also attacked Obama for his comments on aliens in the YouTube interview, insisting that “he provided classified information; he shouldn’t have done that.”
WHAT AMERICAN AUTHORITIES SAY ABOUT EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE
And now back to the initial question: do extraterrestrials exist?
In 2024, the Pentagon stated it had not recovered alien technology nor confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life. The 63-page report represented a clear denial of claims that the government had secretly hosted alien spacecraft or technologies.
“The material archived here concerns unresolved cases, which means the government is unable to definitively determine the nature of the observed phenomena,” the Department of Defense concluded on Friday. “This can occur for a variety of reasons, including lack of sufficient data, and the Department of Defense welcomes the application of analysis, information, and expertise from the private sector.”
Famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson commented on the imminent publication in an essay published Wednesday in the New York Times, calling it “a good thing,” while adding with a jab that “it seems like a distraction from other important documents we all expected to be made public.”
