Disclosed

Apollo 11 Technical Crew Debriefing, 1969

Date
Jul 1969
Place
Cislunar space / lunar orbit / transearth
Record
Pentagon file
Assessment
Not assessed
Evidence strength
467 case pages by decade; this one falls in 1960s with 49 othersAll cases

What was reported

An 11-page excerpt of the Apollo 11 technical crew debrief (originally classified CONFIDENTIAL, declassified per its own cover page). Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin discuss at length an unidentified object seen about a day out from Earth that appeared, through different optics, as an 'open suitcase'/L-shape, then two connected rings, then a hollow cylinder; they suspected but could not confirm it was the S-IVB (reported 6,000 miles away by the ground) and reached no conclusion on its size, distance, or identity. Aldrin separately describes a cabin light-flash phenomenon observed over two nights (the Apollo Light Flash Phenomenon, later linked to cosmic rays), and the crew discusses a Mars-position illusion and a bright light near Earth first thought to be a laser, later attributed to sunlight reflecting off water.

What officials concluded

Unresolved

Crew explicitly states they reached no conclusion on what the object was, how big it was, or how far away it was, beyond ruling out that it was part of the urine dump.

Agency
NASA
Released in

Evidence profile

Sensors1 of 9
  • Visual
  • Infrared
  • Radar
  • Video
  • Photo
  • Film
  • Audio
  • Night vision
  • Other sensor
Witnesses3 counted
  • Civilian
  • Military aircrew
  • Military ground
  • Airline crew
  • Sensor operator
  • Law enforcement
  • Scientist
  • Astronaut
  • Intelligence official
  • Other
ShapeCylinder
  • Light only
  • Orb or sphere
  • Disc
  • Triangle
  • Cylinder
  • Cube
  • Other shape
Effectsnone reported
  • Physiological
  • Physical trace
  • Electromagnetic
  • Sound
  • Silent

Why this rating The tumbling cylinder/rings object was independently observed by all three crew across two different optical instruments (monocular, sextant) over a sustained period, is explicitly not resolved as the S-IVB by the crew's own reported range data, and no conventional explanation is confirmed in this document; this exceeds a single blurry sighting but falls short of 'strong' because it is naked-eye/optical only (no radar or independent sensor), brief, and never re-observed.

As described in the file

Witnesses
Neil Armstrong (CDR), Michael Collins (CMP), Buzz Aldrin (LMP) - all three crew, independently viewing through window, monocular and sextant
Sensors
Visual, monocular, sextant optics
Shape
Described inconsistently by different instruments/foci: 'open suitcase'/L-shape, two connected rings, a hollow cylinder
Size
Sizeable dimension per naked eye, but crew states size could not be determined without knowing range, or vice versa
Motion
Observed tumbling when viewed end-on through the sextant
Duration
One observation period about one day out from Earth; not seen again
Altitude or range
Unknown; crew states the S-IVB was reported 6,000 miles away at the time, which they doubted fit what they saw

Pentagon files

1

What the file claims

5
  • Unverified

    The crew observed an ambiguous object about a day out that shifted appearance between an L-shape/open-suitcase, two connected rings, and a hollow cylinder depending on which crewman and instrument observed it, with no final identification reached.

  • Unverified

    The crew considered and could not confirm the S-IVB as the source, since ground tracking placed the S-IVB about 6,000 miles away at the time.

  • Unverified

    Aldrin reported recurring light flashes inside the darkened cabin over two nights, sometimes as double flashes separated by about a foot, which he could not explain as static electricity or an optical illusion.

  • Unverified

    Armstrong speculated the light flashes could be a neutron or atomic particle in the visible spectrum; Aldrin independently made about 20 timed observations on the final night.

  • Unverified

    A bright light source seen near Earth was first tentatively identified as a possible laser beamed at the Moon, then re-attributed by the crew to sunlight reflecting off a lake or similar body of water.