NASA says all UAP material has been released; Coulthart disputes it
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says the agency has made all of its UAP material public under PURSUE. According to investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, key Apollo-era material is still missing.
According to an October 12, 2026 article in IBTimes UK, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told Nancy Loo that the agency has made all of its material public as part of President Donald Trump's PURSUE initiative. In Isaacman's words, they are going through the files and putting out what they have. The dispute is over whether this release is complete.
Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart disputes this: he discussed the archive with Meagan Medick on Reality Check. In his view, NASA may indeed have released everything it has so far identified and selected for PURSUE, but that is materially different from claiming that all UAP-related NASA records have been found and released. His criticism also extends to the Apollo, Gemini and Skylab programs: he is asking for fuller mission transcripts and the images mentioned in the astronauts' accounts.
The Apollo 17 blue dots
The most contested example is the three blue lights from Apollo 17. Isaacman acknowledged that some of the released images remain unexplained for now, and he linked the blue lights to radiation affecting the camera. According to the article, investigators have not reached a final explanation. Coulthart also considers radiation or a camera malfunction possible. But in his view this cannot be known until the original film is examined and the Department of War and NASA release a report on whether the marks also appear on the original film. According to the article, the film is currently under review by the Pentagon and NASA.
What is still missing?
Coulthart cited the case of Apollo 12: only four pages of its transcript have been released. In them, Alan Bean describes unusual particles of light moving away from the Moon, and the crew wonders whether they could be water droplets. Coulthart is asking for the full transcript. He also asks what happened to the photographs that Apollo 17 astronaut Ron Evans spoke about when he reported bright fragments and said he had also taken pictures. In his view, a genuinely complete release should either produce these images or explain why they can't be identified. He also considers the Gemini 7 and Skylab material incomplete; in his view, further audio recordings, photographs and tracking data would help determine whether the objects were debris, a natural phenomenon or something else. According to the article, his request also extends to the records of the space shuttle missions.
An earlier lawsuit and the limits of the dispute
Coulthart recalled journalist Leslie Kean's 2003 request concerning NASA records on a UFO incident reported in 1965 in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. According to his account, a federal court later found that NASA had not demonstrated the adequacy of its search. From this he concludes that whether the full archive has been searched is open to question. At the same time, Coulthart does not accuse Isaacman of deliberately misleading anyone: he said he does not consider him a liar, but thinks Isaacman does not understand what UAP data means.
What do we know, and what don't we?
According to the NASA chief, all material has been released, and Coulthart disputes this. The article does not reveal whether NASA or the Pentagon has responded regarding the missing transcripts and photos, nor when the examination of the film will be completed. The information comes from a single source, and Coulthart's arguments rest on his own account; the article contains no independent confirmation. Whether the Apollo 17 blue dots stem from radiation, a camera malfunction or something else has not yet been determined.
The sober take
Isaacman linked the blue lights to radiation affecting the camera, while Coulthart considers a camera malfunction conceivable and also accepts the possibility of radiation; in addition, according to the Apollo 12 transcript, the crew itself suspected water droplets regarding the particles of light. There is no final explanation, because the original film has not yet been examined and no report on it has been published.