Apollo 11 Crew Debriefing Sightings

Verified against primary source

Stated date

1969

Location

Cislunar transit

Agency

NASA

Official status

released; crew sightings assessed as likely SLA panels/booster

Substantiated

Evidence strength

How solid the official record is — source authority, corroboration, evidence quality, provenance, and disposition.

Partially Explained

Anomaly level

How far officials are from explaining it. Unexplained means officials haven’t explained it — never that it is extraterrestrial.

VERIFIED (Apollo 11 Technical Crew Debriefing, primary): the crew attributed the translunar object to the S-IVB / jettisoned-LM debris (Mylar/SLA panel), the cabin flashes to cosmic-ray (atomic-particle) visual phenomena, the Mars sighting to an optical illusion, and the lunar-orbit light to sun-glint off a lake; little true residual (an_residual 2->1). 1969 Technical Crew Debriefing (PURSUE R01): Aldrin reported a sizeable object ~1 day out, a bright light (possible laser), and cabin flashes. Aldrin's own explanation: sunlight off an SLA panel/booster.

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Scores are computed from the published methodology, not assigned by hand. This page is generated from the register’s case data.