The Pentagon has declassified its first collection of documents on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), often referred to as UFOs.

These records, fulfilling a key pledge by President Donald Trump for increased governmental openness, span hundreds of pages and include videos of puzzling aerial incidents dating back to the 1940s and extending into early 2024.

A total of 161 documents are now available via the Department of Defense website, with additional releases planned.

In February, ex-President Barack Obama remarked that extraterrestrials are "real, but I haven’t seen them," noting that while statistics suggest life elsewhere, he encountered "no evidence" of it while in office.

Trump soon responded on Truth Social, stating, "I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, UAPs, and unidentified flying objects (UFOs)."

The released materials detail astronaut accounts from Apollo missions, military observations in the Middle East, and numerous civilian submissions.

Transcripts from Apollo 11, 12, and 17 highlight astronauts reporting flashes of light on the lunar surface.

Buzz Aldrin: I observed 'a fairly bright light source'

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, in a 1969 interview now declassified, described observing "what appeared to be a fairly bright light source which we tentatively ascribed to a possible laser."

Additional astronauts reported lights "sailing off into space," likening the display to "the fourth of July out there."

They suggested the flashes might result from sunlight reflecting off ice particles on the moon.

Apollo is not the sole instance of NASA astronauts spotting UAPs; a 1965 Gemini 7 audio recording captures Frank Borman informing ground control of "trillions of little particles" visible to the left of the spacecraft.

A 1994 US State Department cable from the embassy in Tajikistan recounts four pilots witnessing a UAP over Kazakhstan, performing "90-degree turns, corkscrews, and circular maneuvers at high speeds."

Similar erratic movements appear in other reports, such as a military account over the Aegean Sea of a UAP executing "multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph (129 km/h)."

A 2024 interview with a US intelligence officer details a close encounter with a "super hot orb" hovering near the ground and traveling at about 20 mph (32 km/h).

More than 20 videos accompany the files, showing UFOs filmed by military personnel worldwide - from distant fast-moving dots to an American football-shaped craft over the East China Sea.

Dozens of civilian UAP reports are also included.

One document features a 1957 FBI interview with a man who saw a large circular craft ascending from the ground; other 2023 interviews describe metallic objects emerging from intense lights.

Congressional figures have welcomed the declassification as "a great start," though they seek further disclosures from the Trump administration.

Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, hailed it as a "massive first step in the right direction" in a weekend statement. Not all reactions were positive.

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, now distanced from President Trump, dismissed the release as a diversion from pressing matters like the conflict in Iran, calling it "look at the shiny object" propaganda.

She echoed sentiments from Sean Kirkpatrick, ex-director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), who criticized the files for fostering "more speculation, conspiracy, and armchair pseudoscience."

Meanwhile, groups like the Sol Foundation press for complete disclosure on phenomena "not of human origin."