The Pentagon released its latest batch of declassified UFO files on Friday — including audio of the Apollo 12 crew describing how they once saw mysterious “streaks of light” while trying to sleep in deep space.
The audio from a 1969 post-mission medical debrief captured the astronauts — Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon and Alan Bean — detailing how they’d experienced the bizarre flashes despite having their eyes closed.
“The astronauts each reported that these experiences occurred in the dark as they tried to sleep,” a description on the Defense Department’s dedicated UFO site states.
🚨UFO FILES: Apollo 12 astronauts reported seeing mysterious “streaks of light” while trying to sleep in deep space.
During post-mission medical debriefings, Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard “Dick” Gordon, and Alan L. Bean all described flashes of light appearing in complete… pic.twitter.com/5xxuPNclFN
— Space Explained (@SpacedExplained) May 22, 2026
NASA’s medical team later concluded that the phenomena reported by the Apollo 12 crew was caused by astronauts’ own vision rather than external light sources.
The 222 files released Friday were among the second batch of documents made public on the Department of War’s website – weeks after President Trump ordered the release of government reports on unidentified flying objects.
One of the newly released files contains 116 pages of documentation tied to a series of alleged sightings and probes in a top secret facility in Sandia, New Mexico, between 1948 and 1950.
“This file contains 209 sightings of ‘green orbs’, ‘discs’, and ‘fireballs’ reported near the military base,” the Defense Department noted.
More than 50 previously classified videos were also released in the latest tranche, including various encounters with military aircraft.
One video appeared to show four unidentified aerial phenomena create a formation over water in Iran back in August 2022. The clip was likely shot from a US military infrared sensor, according to the Department of War.
Another clip from a US Coast Guard’s infrared sensor appeared to show an object flying near a plane over the Southeastern US in April 2024.
Meanwhile, a report from a US intelligence officer detailed how he spotted mysterious “orange orbs” next to his helicopter while on a mission late last year.
Fighter jets tried to identify the objects but were unable to do, the officer said.
“I remarked to the pilots that it seemed the same orbs we had encountered were now ‘chasing’ the fighters,” he wrote. “We also observed orange orbs flaring up and down around us for several minutes, forming a distinct triangle before vanishing.”
The first batch, which was made public on May 8, contained mysterious footage of a bizarre “eight-pointed star” streaking across the sky, as well as reports from the Apollo 17 lunar crew of an unidentified, strange bright sparks in space that looked like “Fourth of July” fireworks.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the documents, photos and videos of what are officially known as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” have long fueled speculation.
“It’s time the American people see it for themselves,” he said.
The Department of War said it was currently working on a third release of files that’ll be made public in the near future.
The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years.
With Post wires
