Declassified UAP

NASA-UAP-VM006

Apollo 17, 1972

Agency
NASA
Format
Photograph
Incident date
1972
Place
Moon
Released
Release 01, May 8, 2026
Source
war.gov
Topics
Triangles, Photos & film, Spaceflight

Description from war.gov

As part of the review of historical UAP materials under PURSUE, DOW has opened a case to investigate the accompanying NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission, taken December 1972. The image contains three “dots” in a triangular formation in the lower right quadrant of the lunar sky that is clearly visible upon magnification of the image. While this photo has been previously released and discussed by keen observers, there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly. New preliminary US government analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene. Additionally, as part of this investigation, the government has obtained the original film from the Apollo 17 mission and the results of the full NASA and DOW analysis will be released when completed.
NASA-UAP-VM006, Apollo 17, 1972, as released by war.gov
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Machine summary

Written by Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) on May 22, 2026, from the record's text and war.gov's description. It is not part of the record and can contain errors; check it against the document.

NASA-UAP-VM006 is an image record associated with the Apollo 17 mission, dated December 1972, released under the Department of War's PURSUE program on May 8, 2026. The record concerns a photograph taken during the mission showing three small dots arranged in a triangular formation in the lower right quadrant of the lunar sky. The image is a previously public NASA photograph that has circulated among researchers, though no authoritative explanation for the formation has been established.

The record is notable because preliminary U.S. government analysis indicates the feature may represent a physical object in the scene rather than a photographic artifact, film defect, or processing anomaly — a conclusion that distinguishes this review from prior informal assessments. The government states it has obtained the original Apollo 17 mission film for further analysis, with full NASA and DOW findings pending release. No OCR text is available, and no redactions are described, but the incomplete analysis means the record is functionally preliminary at time of release.

Most frequent words

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image part nasa apollo mission released government analysis review historical materials under pursue opened investigate accompanying photograph taken december contains dots triangular formation lower right quadrant lunar clearly visible magnification

Closest matches by the text of the documents.

  1. NASA-UAP-VM003 Apollo 12, 1969 NASA Photograph 1969
  2. NASA-UAP-VM001 Apollo 12, 1969 NASA Photograph 1969
  3. NASA-UAP-VM004 Apollo 12, 1969 NASA Photograph 1969
  4. NASA-UAP-VM005 Apollo 12, 1969 NASA Photograph 1969
  5. NASA-UAP-VM002 Apollo 12, 1969 NASA Photograph 1969
  6. NASA-UAP-D024 “Apollo 16 Scientific Debriefing”  NASA Audio No incident date or place given
  7. DOW-UAP-PR130 Unresolved UAP Report, Iraq, 2022 Department of War Document 2022
  8. FBI Photo B001 FBI Document Late 2025