UFOs, or the idea of their existence, have been around for a long time. Here’s a look at how different iterations of the topic — from government investigations to sightings to movies and television — have played out since World War II:
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On June 24, private pilot Kenneth Arnold Vision reports Nine objects flying near Mount Rainier in Washington state. This was the first widely reported UFO sighting in this country and sparked a wave of other reported sightings. On July 2, a farm foreman inspecting the sheep found strange debris spread over a nearby meadow Roswell, New Mexico. Authorities initially said the material was from a flying disc, but later said it was from a weather balloon.
The US Air Force launched Project Sign, a UFO investigation; It was renamed Project Blue Book in 1953. More than 12,600 sightings reported between 1948 and 1969 were investigated.
Release of the spy film “The Flying Saucer”.
Radar operators, pilots and others pick up as many as ten unexplained objects in the sky over Washington, D.C., in July.
Construction begins on what will become the Area 51 site northwest of Las Vegas as an Air Force facility. Area 51 It becomes a hotspot for UFO conspiracy theories. In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the site’s existence.
In November, dozens of people in Levelland, Texas, west of Lubbock, reported strange lights in the sky that interfered with their vehicles and lights.
In September, Star Trek will premiere on NBC, launching the most enduring space drama in history.
December 17: The Air Force said it had found no evidence that any UFO exists that is extraterrestrial in nature or threatens national security. Finishes Project Blue Book.
Steven Spielberg’s film Close Encounters of the Third Kind has been released.
US Air Force personnel stationed in Great Britain reported seeing strange lights over Rendlesham Forest, northeast of London, in December. Officers reportedly saw a metal object in the woods after checking the lights.
Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” has been released.
Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day” has been released.
Residents reported seeing lights from a large flying object in the sky over or near Phoenix in March.
American pilots track an unidentified bubble Which he called “Jofast”. In another video from that year, titled “Gimbal,” an unexplained object is tracked rising high along the clouds, moving against the wind. “There’s a whole fleet of them,” one naval aviator says to another, though only one indistinct object is visible. “It’s spinning.” The videos were later leaked and released by the Pentagon.
The Navy recognizes the three sections of declassified military footage as unidentified aerial phenomena.
The Pentagon announces a UAP (Unidentified Weather Phenomena) Task Force.
US government investigators say a report They found no extraterrestrial connections in a review of 144 sightings of planes or other devices flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories. They highlighted the need to improve data collection.
Congress holds its first session In 50 years on UFOs after reports of unexplained aerial phenomena by the military. Lawmakers from both parties say UFOs are a national security concern. NASA announces They are launching a study on UFOs as part of a new push toward high-risk, high-impact science. The space agency says it is forming an independent team to find out how much information is available to the public on this issue and how much information is needed. Agency It will publish its results in 2023He said studying UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how UFOs are viewed. The Pentagon’s All-Around Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was established to track reports of unidentified objects in the sky, underwater, and in space.
Former Air Force intelligence officer David Grosch Testifying before a House Oversight Subcommittee In July, the United States unveiled a long-term program to recover and reverse-engineer UFOs. The Pentagon denies hiding any such program.
A new Pentagon study examined reports of UFO sightings over the past century or so He finds no evidence Of aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence. The study, conducted by the Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, analyzed US government investigations since 1945 into sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena. It found no evidence that any of these claims were actually signs of extraterrestrial life, or that the US government and private companies had reverse-engineered extraterrestrial technology and were covering it up.
– February. 14: Former US President Barack Obama, in response to a question about “Are aliens real” on a podcast, said: “They are real. But I have not seen them. They are not kept at Area 51.” Obama later issued this Statement on social media: “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds of life being there are good. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances of aliens reaching us are low, and I have seen no evidence during my presidency that aliens have contacted us. Really!”
– February. 19: President Donald Trump Advertise on social media It directs the Pentagon and other government agencies to identify and release files related to aliens and UFOs due to “tremendous interest.” Trump accuses Obama of revealing “classified information” and tells reporters that he does not know whether UFOs are “real or not.”
— March 31: U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna requested this In a message Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said the government had released approximately fourteen videos relating to the UAP sightings to the Oversight Committee Task Force. “The presence of drones in and around sensitive airspaces of U.S. military installations poses a threat to the security and readiness of the Armed Forces,” Luna wrote.