Apollo 17 Audio Excerpt, December 7, 1972
🏛️ NASA
During the eleventh and final crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans report seeing small lights outside the Apollo spacecraft during transit to the moon. The crew describe bright “particles” or “fragments” as being “jagged,” “angular,” and drifting near the Apollo spacecraft and the separated Saturn S-IVB stage. The Apollo 17 crew speculate that paint chips or ice chips are likely the source of these lights and note that they “twinkle” and move away from the Saturn S-IVB stage.
Key points
- 🏛️ Official U.S. government release — batch 2 (May 22, 2026)
- Official file: NASA-UAP-D009
- When: 12/7/1972
- Where: Cislunar Space
📖 In the encyclopedia
Read it yourself
The description above is the government’s own, from the official release. The official file is linked on this page.
NASA. (1972). Apollo 17 Audio Excerpt, December 7, 1972. https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1007872Related records
Mercury Atlas 7, May 24, 1962
NASA
During the fourth crewed spaceflight and second orbital flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7), Aurora 7 pilot Scott Carpenter describes white particles in view that appear to move at “random” and “look exactly like snowflakes.” He describes these phenomena as reflective, and that some seemed to move faster than the Aurora 7 spacecraft.
Apollo 17 Crew Medical Debriefing (Continued), 1972
NASA
This file contains segment 2 of 2 of the Apollo 17 post-mission medical debriefing at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center), Houston, Texas. In this continued segment, crew members and debriefers further discuss the “light flash phenomena,” a then novel, now well-documented biological effect where high-energy cosmic rays pass through the eye and strike the retina, causing the perception of light streaks or flashes. Two of the three crew members reported observing these flashes at various points during the mission, including in lunar orbit and while on the lunar surface.
Apollo 17 Crew Medical Debriefing, 1972
NASA
This file contains segment 1 of 2 of the Apollo 17 post-mission medical debriefing at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center), Houston, Texas. In the recording, crew members discuss the “light flash phenomena,” a then novel, now well-documented biological effect where high-energy cosmic rays pass through the eye and strike the retina, causing the perception of light streaks or flashes. Two of the three crew members reported observing these flashes at various points during the mission, including in lunar orbit and while on the lunar surface. The debriefing continues in the next file (NASA-UAP-D029).
Apollo 14 Debriefing (Continued), 1971
NASA
This file contains segment 2 of 2 of the Apollo 14 post-mission crew debriefing at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center), Houston, Texas. In this continued segment, crew members and debriefers further discuss the “light flash phenomena,” a then novel, now well-documented biological effect where high-energy cosmic rays pass through the eye and strike the retina, causing the perception of light streaks or flashes.