NASA-UAP-VM004, Apollo 12, 1969
This archival photograph depicts the lunar surface as viewed from the landing site of Apollo 12. This image features a highlighted area of interest slightly to the left of the vertical axis of the frame, above the horizon, in which unidentified phenomena are visible. This image has been modified from its original state to assist viewers in identifying specific areas of interest. These highlights are provided for contextual purposes only. Such alterations do not constitute an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the nature or significance of the subject matter.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of NASA's 22 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the NASA agency block it ranks #5 of 22 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 222-file archive it ranks #84 of 222.
That places it one rubric point below the 27-file AARO 66 cluster and seven below the Gemini 7 audio at 72 - the second tier in the archive.
For the broader cluster context, this file is part of Apollo 12 UFO Photos - the 6-file Apollo 12 PURSUE cluster. The cluster page walks through all 6 member files with regional grouping, sensor breakdown, and standout analysis.
Anomalousness Index: 65/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Captured as a still photograph rather than a time-series sensor capture. The rubric scores still photography below instrumented sensor capture because a still image lacks temporal context and cross-modality confirmation - both of which weight heavily against artifact and noise explanations.
Astronaut witness on the official federal record. The highest tier in the rubric and essentially unique in the PURSUE archive - only the Borman/Lovell Gemini 7 file fits this tier, which is the structural reason it is the sole 72 in the archive.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. Every file in the PURSUE archive scores at this corroboration tier on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 65/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in NASA
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
NASA-UAP-VM001, Apollo 12, 1969
NASA-UAP-VM002, Apollo 12, 1969
NASA-UAP-VM003, Apollo 12, 1969
NASA-UAP-VM005, Apollo 12, 1969
NASA-UAP-VM006, Apollo 17, 1972
NASA-UAP-D008, Apollo 12 Medical Debriefing - Tape 12, 1969
Verification
SHA-256 · verified against war.gov 2026-06-10:
This hash is the SHA-256 of the file body war.gov served on the verification date above. War.gov has re-processed some file bodies since first release (re-compression + OCR, no content removed - see /changes); we re-verify and record the change rather than silently serve a stale hash. How to check this yourself →
Source: https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/release_1/nasa-uap-vm4-apollo-12-1969.jpg