‘We have a bogey’: Pentagon files reveal unexplained object spotted during Gemini 7 flight
Washington: Newly declassified UFO-related files released by the Pentagon and US agencies have revived interest in a mysterious encounter reported during NASA’s historic Gemini 7 mission, where astronauts described spotting an unidentified “bogey” while orbiting Earth.
Among the documents made public as part of the latest transparency initiative are transcripts and Public Affairs Office (P.A.O.) commentaries detailing the strange incident involving astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell during the Gemini 7 mission in December 1965.
According to the official mission commentary, the sighting occurred around four hours and 24 minutes into the flight when Borman radioed Houston Control saying: “We have a bogey at ten o'clock high”.
Mission control initially questioned whether the crew might have been observing their own Titan II booster rocket or a natural phenomenon.
Houston responded by asking whether the astronauts were seeing the booster or a “natural sighting”.
Borman, however, clarified that the crew could already identify the booster separately and insisted there was another unexplained object in view.
The declassified transcripts also describe what astronauts called a chaotic orbital scene, with Borman reporting “hundreds of little particles” moving past the spacecraft roughly three to four miles away.
While Lovell described the booster as a “brilliant body in the sun against a black background,” the P.A.O. commentary separately referred to a “third and unidentified object” — labelled a “bogey” — distinct from both the particles and the booster.
Officials reviewing the documents noted that there were “several references to the bogey” during the mission, indicating it was treated as a separate unidentified sighting at the time.
The files are among the latest materials released under the US government’s ongoing effort to declassify records connected to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), the official term now used for UFOs.
The Pentagon on Friday released a first group of previously secret files documenting reports of UFOs -- a move sought for decades by some Americans.
"These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation -- and it's time the American people see it for themselves," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.
President Donald Trump directed US federal agencies in February to begin identifying and releasing government files related to unidentified flying objects and aliens, saying the move was "based on the tremendous interest shown."
The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the US government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.
Congress ordered the Pentagon to begin releasing decades of files on UFO sightings in 2022 as some members of the military shared encounters with unexplained aircraft.