Department of War PURSUE File
NASA-UAP-D6, Apollo 17 Technical Crew Debriefing, 1973
1973
Editorial summary
During the Apollo 17 mission in January 1973, astronaut Harrison Schmitt reported observing light flashes continuously throughout the spacecraft's flight whenever the crew was dark adapted. According to the file, Schmitt noted one instance where he believed he saw a flash originating from the lunar surface itself.
The witness account indicates that the frequency of these flashes changed in correlation with specific experimental conditions. During a period when the crew wore blindfolds for the ALFMED (Apollo Light Flash Moving Emulsion Detector) experiment, Schmitt reported that no visible flashes were observed. However, he noted that on the evening before sleep, after the blindfolds were removed, the light flashes resumed. Schmitt characterized the phenomenon as occurring in intervals, with the flashes absent during the blindfold period but present on either side of that interval for himself and the other two crew members.
The technical debriefing document provides no determination as to the source or nature of these observations. The file was declassified in May 2026 as part of the Department of War PURSUE Release 01 and is now available in the public record.
Editorial summary written by govweird from the declassified document text. The official government description follows below.
Government description
Apollo 17 was the ninth crewed U.S. mission to the Moon, and the sixth to land Astronauts on the lunar surface. This document is an excerpt from the Apollo 17 Technical Crew Debriefing on January 4, 1973, in which astronaut Harrison Schmitt reported seeing light flashes. • Page 24-4. [Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt]: “We had light flashes just about continuously during the whole flight when we were dark adapted. I had one which I thought was a flash on the lunar surface. That one period of time when we had the blindfolds on for the ALFMED [Apollo Light Flash Moving Emulsion Detector] experiment there were just no visible flashes, although that evening, that night, before I went to sleep, I noticed that I was seeing the light flashes again.”
Caption issued by the U.S. Department of War on war.gov/ufo. Verbatim, unedited.
Originating agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Record type
Incident date
1973
Incident location
Unspecified
Release tranche
Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Distribution
Cleared for public release