Whistleblower claims from within NASA suggest that images from the Apollo missions may have been altered to conceal evidence of an alien presence on or around the moon. Physicist Maaneli Derakhshani asserted on the "American Alchemy" podcast that numerous photographs taken during the 1960s and 1970s purportedly captured unidentified objects, only for these images to be modified before public release.
Derakhshani, who studies anomalies on lunar and Martian surfaces, cited a specific Apollo 14 photograph featuring astronaut Ed Mitchell. He stated that one version of the image, available from the Lunar and Planetary Institute archive, shows a completely black lunar sky. However, a different version, labeled "March to the moon" and managed by the Johnson Space Center and Arizona State University, clearly displays a blue orb in the sky above Mitchell.
Further allegations concern astronauts reportedly receiving telepathic warnings from extraterrestrials. Both Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, and Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan are said to have reported receiving messages advising against returning to the moon. Host Jesse Michels referenced accounts suggesting Armstrong made such statements at a gathering of political figures and that Cernan confided similar experiences to a Japanese NASA museum curator.
Additional photographic evidence cited includes an Apollo 17 image showing three solid blue lights above a lunar hill. When brightened, the area between the lights reportedly becomes more visible, suggesting they are part of a larger structure. NASA's own declassified UFO files from May noted that this image prompted a "special investigation" by experts who believed the lights could be a physical object in space. Other photos from the same mission allegedly depict blue, metallic-looking streaks resembling insectoid objects with faint trails.
While some, like astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, have attributed such images to cosmic rays, Derakhshani argues the objects' solid, round nature makes this explanation statistically improbable. Skeptics also point to lens flares or natural geological formations as possible explanations.
Ken Johnston Sr., a former NASA astronaut trainer and backup Apollo astronaut, is also reported to have claimed he was instructed to destroy early Apollo negatives due to "anomalies." Derakhshani stated that Johnston saved some of these negatives, which he later made public. Despite these claims and NASA's release of declassified UFO files under the Trump administration, the agency and the Pentagon continue to deny possessing proof of alien life.
NASA is preparing for a return to the moon with the Artemis program. Artemis III is expected to circle the moon by 2027, with Artemis IV planned as the first lunar landing since the Apollo era, approximately a year later.