The U.S. Department of War, an agency officially dissolved in 1947, has released a 1972 transcript from the Apollo 17 mission detailing three distinct periods of unusual visual observations made by the crew. The document, designated “NASA-UAP-D2, Apollo 17 Transcript, 1972,” was made public on May 8, 2026, through the department’s PURSUE archive. The release marks a significant step in the ongoing government disclosure of records related to unidentified aerial phenomena.
The first observation occurred on Day 00 of the mission, at 03 hours, 34 minutes, and 10 seconds. Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans reported seeing “very bright particles or fragments” drifting and tumbling near the spacecraft during a maneuver.
Lunar Module Pilot Harrison “Jack” Schmitt compared the scene to “the Fourth of July.” Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan described the particles as “flat, flakelike,” with some potentially “6 inches across.” The crew speculated the fragments could be ice or paint from the separated S-IVB rocket stage, though Evans dismissed this as a “wild guess.” Cernan noted that most particles appeared to be “twinkling” and moving away from the spacecraft without relative motion between them. The second period of observation, spanning nearly three hours on Day 02, was the longest recorded.
The transcript does not specify what the astronauts observed during this extended window. The release covers only the first three days of the 12-day mission, leaving nine days of potential observations unaccounted for.
The involvement of the Department of War, which was replaced by the Department of Defense in 1947, suggests a classification lineage predating the modern Pentagon structure. The resurrection of the name indicates a possible reorganization or a specific legal mandate for handling these particular records. The PURSUE archive appears to function as a clearinghouse for such documents, operating on a track parallel to the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
The Apollo 17 crew were highly trained observers: Cernan a naval aviator, Schmitt a geologist, and Evans an engineer. Their descriptions include specific, measurable details.
The particles exhibited no relative motion to each other, moved away from the spacecraft, and were described as “twinkling.” Cernan’s characterization of some particles as “flat, flakelike” discs up to six inches across does not match the typical behavior of ice crystals or paint chips, which do not twinkle uniformly or drift in formation. While the astronauts did not use the term “UFO” in the transcript, the government later classified the document as a UAP record. This official interpretation puts a government stamp on what were previously anecdotal astronaut claims.
The release of this single document suggests the PURSUE archive contains additional records, and further disclosures are likely. The timing, 54 years after the mission, indicates ongoing declassification of Apollo-era UAP materials.
