Documents / Official release
This 1998 NASA file holds UFO-related letters from constituents that were forwarded by members of Congress, together with NASA's handling records. Senator Olympia Snowe forwarded letters from Maine residents, including a 12-year-old who asked for Roswell documents and listed a number of reported sightings. Senator Charles Grassley forwarded a question about astronaut UFO sightings. NASA's reply says it has no UFO program and has not withheld anything. The reply enclosed a NASA fact sheet and James Oberg's article, which explains the Gemini-4 McDivitt object as the spacecraft's own booster.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Released with redactions. This collection of documents, primarily from 1998, contains draft and final correspondence from the White House and the offices of members of Congress responding to constituent inquiries about Unidentified Flying Objects, or “UFOs.” These inquiries cover a diverse range of topics, including alleged UFO sightings by NASA astronauts, questions regarding the authenticity of photos collected during U.S. missions to Mars, alleged improper withholding of information by the U.S. Government, questions regarding the appropriateness of “UFO-related” governmental spending, and calls for congressional hearings regarding the nature and existence of “UFOs.” The official responses consistently state that, circa 1998, the U.S. Government is not aware of evidence supporting the existence of extraterrestrial technology, and that NASA does not actively investigate “UFOs.” The collection includes references to materials of both confirmed and unconfirmed authenticity, as provided by constituents, as well as references to historical, scientific literature addressing specific “UFO” sighting claims.
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Undt•rwood quil'kly located half a operational photo1:r:iphy that ddy
do 1.e11 ~imilar "ltalou5" on other space positive identification") of .-\polio• 12.
l'o11f.r:1rl t.'lll!i111•1•r:; wen• F. D. Ul•att~
and ,I.G. !l:nrm.
"Unidenlirkd \'bua! plwnon:C':1.1
as~oci:ilcd with space flight were
rather common opc,,:tionally." rcn,aJ
lhe authors." but. ''. .little or no
clo~u111clllJli1111 ll1 p,1,~ cvc11t.; has i,e..-11
macie." Rcfore UF'O bclle,·crs jump uμ
and d1Jw11 with confim~a,ion of a
whole new family of ''astronaut
sightings of UFO3'', the authors
announce? their intention of
demonstrating that 1
'such evenl~ were
spacecraft debris associated with an
earlier pyrotechnical operation, or ice,
or window reflections. Cases for each
of these theories have been presented
and exhibits of similar occurenccs are
included. Positive identifi~ation was
not possible. . . The quality of tile
imagery precludes a precise definition
of the object under question. . . In
general, it takes much more
information to identify an object that
if does to detect it."
Sixteen millim~ter color magazine
11651\1, exposed on Apollo-12. shows
three objects, called "A", "B", and
"C". The objects appeared during the
Ll\·l jettison man«?uver in lunar orbit.
"A" is believed to be a small segment
o f the docking channel; "B" was
identified by engineers as a portion oi
the docking ring, possibly the
fiberglass seal; "C" was probably part
of the electrical harness. All were near
the spacecraft and were tumbling.
From this and other examinations,
Beatty and Baron concluded that
"most 'moon pigeons' have as their
source a programmed pyrotechnic
event and are the normal debris
associated with such an incident. They
are often spectacular. . . The main
thing to be learn«?d from this study is
that the event (in question) was, in all
probability, a normal result of routine
spacecraft operations. . . These data
will undoubtably be of use to the
engineering, scientific, and public
relations communities." The closing
reference clearly indicates that Beatty
and Baron were aware of the "Apollo•
12 UFOs" controversy and felt that
their study would be useful in
demolishini: any UFO buffs' wild
n1mor;.
unfortunately. tht? ·'moon pigeons"
rrport seems to ha\·e been tiled a\\ ay
in the :--i..\S.-\ archi,·C's. Baron. who still
wurks at the Joh 11,;011 Space Cerlll' r,
told me early in H)i6 that ht! ne\ l!r
got any feedback on his report, e,·t'n
thoui:h it was fun doini,: it and it had
5.i Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 86 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.