1972 · North of Grimaldi crater, Moon
Schmitt's flash north of Grimaldi
NASA air-to-ground transcript page at 03 15 38 09 GET in which Harrison Schmitt reports a bright little flash just north of Grimaldi and asks Houston to check the seismometers. The yellow highlighting is in the released file. · NASA; released at war.gov/ufo as NASA-UAP-D2 (mirror: ufotransparency.com) (Public domain (NASA; US government work))
WhenDecember 10, 1972
WhereNorth of Grimaldi crater, Moon
In their own words
“Hey, I just saw a flash on the lunar surface!”
Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot, December 10, 1972 · source
At 03:15:38:09 Harrison Schmitt: 'Hey, I just saw a flash on the lunar surface!' A thin streak of light just north of Grimaldi; he asked Houston to check the seismometers. It fell during the Geminid shower.
How plausible · Moderate
A scientist-astronaut reported a flash in real time on the official record; no crater or second observer.
- ●●Access From orbit.
- ●●No gain sought Official record.
- ●●Restraint Reported plainly.
- ●●Character record Geologist-astronaut.
- ●●Checkable details check out Mission transcript.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- No new crater has been published for this site (LROC has matched new craters to other recorded flashes).Flashes on the Moon: Apollo 16, Apollo 17, Artemis II
- Fernando et al. 2026, with Schmitt as co-author, found no seismic match for the Apollo flashes.Flashes on the Moon: Apollo 16, Apollo 17, Artemis II
Claims
One outlet says 'internal analysts flagged the event as potentially artificial'; it names no one and cites nothing.anonymousSourced, unconfirmed
Where
North of Grimaldi crater, Moon
5.5°S 68.3°W on the Moon
war.gov files on this case (1)
PDFApollo 17 Technical Crew Debriefing, 1973NASA · Release 01 · 1973
‹ Previous in Max Derakhshani's objectsApollo 17 three dots (war.gov VM006)7 of 17Next in Max Derakhshani's objects ›Flashes on the Moon: Apollo 16, Apollo 17, Artemis II
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People and organizations
Apollo 17 missionHarrison Schmitt personGrimaldi crater (Moon) placeFernando et al. 2026: Apollo impact flashes vs seismic data documentwar.gov NASA-UAP-D002: Apollo 17 transcript (1972) document
Threads · click one to see it on the board
Sources
- Apollo 17 Flight Journal, Day 5 part 2 (090:18:11, 'Hey, I just saw a flash')
- NASA, Apollo 17 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription, p. 455 (03 15 38 09)
- Apollo 17 Flight Journal, Day 5 part 3 (PAO: 'We could not confirm that')
- Fernando et al. 2026, JGR Planets 131(10) e2026JE009762 (with H. Jack Schmitt)