Secret NASA Apollo 16 Tape Reignites Moon Conspiracy Theories

A newly released 55-minute audio recording, part of the Pentagon’s third disclosure of UFO-related files on Friday, has drawn attention for what it suggests about a secret NASA briefing after Apollo 16. The tape records a closed meeting held shortly after the mission ended, and the article says large portions of the discussion were omitted from the official transcripts previously made public.

Apollo 16 took place in April 1972, when astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the Moon’s highlands while command module pilot Thomas Mattingly remained in lunar orbit. During the classified review, scientists and researchers examined mission data including gravity measurements, laser experiments, and unexplained phenomena detected on the Moon’s far, dark side.

One focus of the discussion was a huge depression near Van de Graaff crater, an area long of scientific interest because of its unusual magnetic and geological features. In the recording, one participant describes it as a very large hole producing anomalous readings. Another voice then offers an offhand explanation, saying, “It could be an alien base or something like that,” before immediately moving on to the next slide showing the Moon’s near side.

The remark was not backed by evidence or further explanation, and from the audio alone it is impossible to know whether it was a serious assessment, a hypothesis, or an inside joke. Still, the fact that the line was censored and absent from official records for more than five decades has revived conspiracy theories online and added to a growing archive of government documents that fuel speculation about unexplained findings in space.