Timeline of UFO Sightings, Events Leading to Trump Order on Release of US Govt Files

Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s surprising remarks on the possibility of extraterrestrial life have reignited the century-old debate on aliens prompting President Donald Trump to quickly order a review and release of government files related to unidentified flying objects (UFO) and aliens.

Former US President Barack Obama pardons Chelsea Manning and commutes her sentence . (Photo: US White House)

 

Here’s a Chronology of Major UFO/UAP Events showing the timeline of key sightings, incidents, government investigations, and disclosures related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), drawn from historical records and recent developments in Washington D.C.:

 

Date
Event Description
June 13, 1933
Alleged UFO crash in northern Italy, one of the earliest reported recovery incidents involving potential non-human craft.
June 24, 1947
Pilot Kenneth Arnold reports seeing nine crescent-shaped objects flying at high speed near Mount Rainier, Washington, coining the term “flying saucers” and sparking widespread public interest in UFOs.
July 1947
The Roswell Incident: Debris from a crashed object near Roswell, New Mexico, is initially announced as a “flying disc” by the U.S. military, later retracted as a weather balloon; it becomes one of the most famous alleged UFO cover-ups.
1948
The U.S. Air Force launches Project Sign, the first official government study to assess if UFOs pose a national security threat; it evolves into Project Grudge in 1949.
July 1952
The Washington, D.C., UFO flap: Multiple unidentified objects detected on radar over the U.S. capital, with fighter jets scrambled; remains unexplained and leads to heightened government scrutiny.
1952
Project Blue Book is established by the U.S. Air Force to investigate UFO reports, succeeding earlier programs and operating until 1969.
Sept 19-21, 1961
Betty and Barney Hill abduction: The first widely publicized alien abduction case in New Hampshire, where the couple claims to have been taken aboard a UFO and examined by extraterrestrial beings.
Jan 1969
The Condon Report is released, concluding that UFOs warrant no further scientific study, influencing the termination of Project Blue Book.
Dec 17, 1969
Project Blue Book is officially terminated by the U.S. Air Force, after investigating over 12,000 reports and deeming most explainable.
Nov 5, 1975
Travis Walton abduction: A logger in Arizona claims to be abducted by a UFO, missing for five days before returning with detailed accounts of encounters aboard the craft.
Dec 26, 1980
Rendlesham Forest Incident: U.S. military personnel at RAF Bentwaters in the UK report erroneous lights and a triangular craft landing in the forest, with physical traces found.
Nov 17, 2004
USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter: U.S. Navy pilots off the California coast observe a white, oblong object exhibiting impossible maneuvers, captured on video and radar.
2007-2012
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is secretly funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to study UFOs/UAPs.
Dec 16, 2017
The New York Times publishes an exposé on the Pentagon’s AATIP program, including leaked videos of UAP encounters, reigniting public and governmental interest.
April 27, 2020
The Pentagon officially releases three UAP videos (FLIR, GIMBAL, GOFAST) captured by Navy pilots, confirming their authenticity.
Aug 4, 2020
The UAP Task Force is established by the Pentagon to assess UAP threats to national security.
June 25, 2021
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence releases the Preliminary UAP Assessment, analyzing 144 incidents from 2004-2021, with most unexplained.
July 20, 2022
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is formed by the Department of Defense to investigate UAP across air, sea, and space domains.
July 26, 2023
Congressional UAP hearing: Whistleblower David Grusch testifies about U.S. government possession of non-human spacecraft and biologics; pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor share encounters.
Dec 22, 2023
President Biden signs the NDAA FY24, including the first U.S. legal reference to “non-human intelligence” in relation to UAP.
March 2024
AARO releases an annual report on UAP, noting advancements in data collection and a decrease in unexplained cases through AI analysis.
April 2024
NASA’s UAP Study Team publishes its final report, recommending a dedicated research program and international collaboration on UAP.
Sept 2025
Congressional UAP hearing releases never-before-seen video of a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile at an unexplained “orb” off Yemen (incident dated October 2024), highlighting ongoing military encounters.
Jan 20, 2026
Filmmaker James Fox hosts a UAP press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., presenting new evidence on non-human encounters and crash-retrievals, calling for whistleblower protections.
Feb 16, 2026
Former President Barack Obama comments on a podcast that aliens are “real,” sparking debate amid ongoing congressional UAP investigations.
Feb 19, 2026
President Donald Trump announces via Truth Social that he is directing federal agencies, including the Pentagon, to identify and release files on UFOs, UAPs, and extraterrestrial life.

UFOs floating in shape over Shrewsbury, claims ex-army officer

An ex-army officer has claimed that he has captured a streak of UFOs floating over Shrewsbury, in Pontesbury Hill and the witness assured the viewers that it was not a military aircraft.

"Having served in the forces for over 30 years, I can bet my pension they are not known to the military. They moved slowly around the back of Pontesbury Hill and out towards Eastridge Woods," he said, reports Shropshire Star.

He said the unidentified flying objects did not make any sound and they moved in a controlled manner in the skies of Shrewsbury moving towards Stiperstones. They are certainly not the Chinese lanterns released during the festive season to float around in the sky along with the wind, he said.

“Did anyone else see these as I’m told that Shropshire is a hotspot for UFO sightings?" asked the witness, whose name has not been revealed.

The UFO sightings has increasingly been making it to the newsrooms and many former space scientists and astronauts have joined the row either claiming to have seen UFOs or denying the phenomenon as a hoax.

In addition, the time travellers have been hitting the Youtube or social media claiming that they had visited a particular year in the future and recollecting their experience. But none of them reveal their name or face or even their voice.

Since readership for anything UFO or time-travel is high, even major news outlets have repeatedly published such news. NASA, however, remains stuck to it stand that they are Internet Hoax.

But UFO buffs around the world claim that the governments are aware of alien existence and they even collaborate with them.

Are UFO revelations true? Buzz Aldrin clears lie detector test on UFO sighting

Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Al Worden, Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper have one thing in common, they are among the ardent defenders of UFO theory and claimed to have seen or chased many during their space travels. Now, all the four have cleared a lie-detector test, which reiterates their claim.

The lie detector test was carried out using the latest technology and experts said they were “completely convinced” with the results that they are telling the world truth about signs of alien life.

Buzz Aldrin, now 88, was the second human alogn with Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon in their historic Apoll 11 mission in 1969. He claimed later that he saw a UFO. “There was something out there that was close enough to be observed, sort of L-shaped,” he said repeatedly.

The Institute of BioAcoustic Biology in Albany, Ohio, which has conducted the test, preferred to keep its technology top secret though. They have claimed that they used complex computer analyses of the astronauts’ voice patterns and more reliable than current lie detector tests.

Edgar Mitchell, another who took the test was the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, who had earlier claimed that “aliens have contacted humans several times”.

Al Worden, 86, who had piloted the Apollo 15 mission revealed similar views to Good Morning Britain viewers with his claims earlier to have seen extra-terrestrials. In addition, the voice recordings of Edgar Mitchell and Gordon Cooper, both now dead, were also analysed by the Ohio-based institute.

Mitchell was part of the Apollo 14 mission and Cooper was also a space pilot who claimed to have chased UFOs during his flights.

Aldrin has been in the news recently for advocating an affordable plan to get humans to Mars.

Since Earth does a lap of the Sun once every 365.256 days and Mars too does a lap of the Sun once every 686.93 Earth days, he said we can overlay these two orbits with a third orbit, that of a spacecraft, which takes 2 and 1/7th years to complete. This spacecraft can meet up with the two planets, he said.

Instead of using fuel to change direction, the spacecraft could use gravitational slingshot manoeuvres to reduce the cost of each trip, he explained.