UAP Timeline
The major sightings, official programs, reports and hearings from 1947 to today. Each entry gives what happened, what officials or skeptics say, and a source to read more.
- 1947Jun 24Sighting
Kenneth Arnold and the first "flying saucers"
Pilot Kenneth Arnold reported nine fast, shiny objects near Mount Rainier, Washington. A newspaper's "flying saucer" headline launched the modern UFO era.
No official explanation was ever settled on; mirages, birds and meteors have all been proposed.
Source - 1947Jul 8Sighting
Roswell
The Army air field at Roswell, New Mexico announced it had recovered a "flying disc," then said it was a weather balloon the next day.
In 1994 the Air Force said the debris came from Project Mogul, a classified balloon program for detecting Soviet nuclear tests. Many researchers still dispute that account.
Source - 1952MarchOfficial
Project Blue Book opens
The Air Force starts Project Blue Book to investigate UFO reports. It runs until December 1969.
It collected 12,618 reports. 701 were never identified.
Source - 1952Jul 19Sighting
Washington, D.C. radar sightings
Over two July weekends, radar operators and pilots tracked unknown objects over the U.S. capital, making front-page news.
The Air Force blamed temperature inversions affecting radar. Some of the radar operators disagreed.
Source - 1961Sep 19Sighting
Betty and Barney Hill
A New Hampshire couple said they were taken aboard a craft during a night drive. It became the first widely publicized abduction claim.
Their accounts came out under hypnosis, which skeptics say can create false memories.
Source - 1964Apr 24Sighting
Socorro landing
Police officer Lonnie Zamora reported an egg-shaped craft and two small figures near Socorro, New Mexico, with marks left in the ground.
Project Blue Book listed it as unidentified, one of its best-known open cases.
Source - 1969Dec 17Official
Blue Book closes
After the University of Colorado's Condon Report concluded further study was unlikely to yield anything useful, the Air Force shut Project Blue Book down.
Critics, including some committee scientists, argued the report's summary didn't match its own unresolved cases.
Source - 1980Dec 26Sighting
Rendlesham Forest
U.S. Air Force personnel at bases in Suffolk, England reported lights and a landed craft in the forest over several nights.
Skeptics point to a nearby lighthouse and a bright meteor. A deputy base commander's memo about it was later released.
Source - 1986Nov 17Sighting
Japan Air Lines 1628
A JAL cargo crew over Alaska reported huge lights pacing their plane for about 50 minutes. FAA radar data was reviewed.
The FAA didn't reach a firm conclusion. Skeptics suggest the crew saw Jupiter and Mars.
Source - 1997Mar 13Sighting
Phoenix Lights
Thousands of people across Arizona reported a V-shaped formation of lights and a string of hovering lights.
The military said the later hovering lights were flares dropped during a training exercise. Witnesses of the earlier V shape dispute that it explains everything.
Source - 2004Nov 14Sighting
Nimitz "Tic Tac"
Navy pilots from the USS Nimitz, including Cmdr. David Fravor, chased a white, wingless object off California that appeared to outmaneuver their jets.
It remains unexplained in official records. Its FLIR video was later released by the Pentagon.
Source - 2017Dec 16Report
The New York Times story
The Times revealed a secret Pentagon program, AATIP, that studied UFOs from 2007 to 2012, and published Navy videos of encounters.
It restarted mainstream and congressional interest in the subject.
Source - 2020Apr 27Official
Pentagon releases Navy videos
The Defense Department officially released the FLIR, Gimbal and GoFast videos, saying the objects were still "unidentified."
Some analysts argue camera effects and distant aircraft explain parts of the videos. NASA's study team later estimated the GoFast object was moving about 40 mph.
Source - 2021Jun 25Report
First official U.S. intelligence report
The Director of National Intelligence's preliminary assessment covered 144 military reports from 2004 to 2021. Only one was explained, as a deflating balloon.
The report said limited data made most cases impossible to resolve.
Source - 2022May 17Hearing
First public hearing in over 50 years
A House Intelligence subcommittee questioned Pentagon officials about UAP, the first open congressional hearing on the subject since the 1960s.
Officials said they had no evidence of anything non-terrestrial, but couldn't explain every case.
Source - 2022Jul 20Official
AARO is created
The Pentagon set up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to collect and analyze UAP reports across the government.
It now publishes an annual report to Congress.
Source - 2023Jul 26Hearing
The Grusch hearing
Former intelligence officer David Grusch testified under oath that the U.S. has a hidden program recovering craft and "non-human biologics." Pilots David Fravor and Ryan Graves also testified.
The Pentagon denied his claims, and Grusch said the evidence could only be shared in classified settings.
Source - 2023Sep 14Report
NASA's UAP study
NASA's independent study team found no evidence that UAP are extraterrestrial, and called for better data and less stigma for people who report sightings.
NASA also named a director of UAP research.
Source - 2024Mar 8Report
AARO historical review
AARO's review of U.S. government UFO investigations since 1945 found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology or secret reverse-engineering programs.
Disclosure advocates and some lawmakers called the review incomplete.
Source - 2024Nov 13Hearing
"Exposing the Truth" hearing
Former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo, retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, journalist Michael Shellenberger and former NASA official Michael Gold testified before House Oversight subcommittees.
Witnesses alleged secret programs and urged disclosure. The Pentagon maintains it has found no such programs.
Source - 2025Sep 9Hearing
Luna task force hearing
A House Oversight task force led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna heard from military witnesses. Rep. Eric Burlison showed a video he said showed a missile failing to destroy an object off Yemen in 2024.
The witness accounts and video haven't been independently verified, and the Pentagon didn't comment at the time.
Source - 2026Jul 21Report
AARO's FY2025 report
AARO logged 319 new reports and closed 370 cases with ordinary explanations. 9 cases remain under deeper study, and two reports of aircraft interference are unexplained.
AARO again said it found no evidence of advanced foreign technology or recovered UAP material.
Source
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