NASA-UAP-VM6, Apollo 17, 1972

Plain-English Summary

• What happened: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.
• Who reported it:NASA
• What evidence exists:photo
• What the government says: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.
• What remains unclear:Not provided in source.

Key Facts

Title

NASA-UAP-VM6, Apollo 17, 1972

Release

Release 01

Release date

2026-05-08

Incident date

1972-01-01

Agency

NASA

Location

Moon

Location precision

region_only

Status

unknown

Source domain

war.gov

Media Gallery

• images
  NASA-UAP-VM6, Apollo 17, 1972
  View originalwww.war.gov↗
• thumbnail
  Thumbnail
  View originalwww.war.gov↗

Skeptical / Mundane Explanations

No mundane explanation has been documented for this record yet. The original source is linked above — weigh the evidence for yourself.

What we still don't know

Open questions haven't been catalogued for this record yet. What the released material does and doesn't establish is summarized above.

Related cases