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NASA Audio Tier 1 · Primary sensor/visual record

Apollo 17 Audio Excerpt, December 7, 1972

NASA-UAP-D009 · Release 02 (5/22)
AgencyNASA
Document typeAudio
LocationCislunar Space (Space/Orbit)
Incident date12/7/72
ReleaseRelease 02 (5/22)
Evidence tierTier 1 · Primary sensor/visual record

What the document says

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.

Context

This is one of 33 NASA records in the declassified archive, reported in the Space/Orbit region. It was published in Release 02 (5/22).

Evidence tiers describe the type of record (sensor capture vs. written report vs. administrative file) · not a claim about its conclusions. UFO Papers reports only what the documents state.

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