NASA UAP / UFO Related Internal Communications

(This remains an evolving database, and will be updated continuously. It was first published in May of 2022, and has been updated numerous times since then.)

According to NASA, “The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is responsible for unique scientific and technological achievements in human spaceflight, aeronautics, space science, and space applications that have had widespread impacts on our nation and the world. Forged in response to early Soviet space achievements, NASA was built on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, as the locus of U.S. civil aerospace research and development.”

The following is a large archive of internal NASA related UAP / UFO communications, consisting primarily of e-mails, along with their attachments.

The cases are broken down below, along with links to the documents released.

The Black Vault has, in some cases, reported on documents within these releases through articles and on The Black Vault’s YouTube channel. Make sure you are subscribed to ensure you get notified of new videos, and the profiling of documents in the future.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson Emails – NASA FOIA Case 22-HQ-F-00488

This particular case asked for:

All emails sent to/from (bcc’d or cc’d) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (include ALL email addresses utilized by Mr. Nelson), which contain the following keywords:

“Airborne Object”

and/or

AOIMSG

and/or

AOIMEXEC

and/or

“Unidentified Aerial”

The request only stipulated records dated December 1, 2021, to the date of processing the request, which was filed on April 22, 2022. This date was stipulated since previous FOIA requests were processed for records prior to this date.

There was one article that came up, circulated internally from The Guardian that caused a hit on the keyword, but this was public information. The key to this release, was a calendar invite that showed Director Bill Nelson had a meeting about UAP, organized by Special Assistant to the Administrator Kayla Ratnasamy.

Multiple NASA Official Emails (see below) – NASA FOIA Case 21-HQ-F-00603

Note: This case is final. The Black Vault agreed to pay $382.50 for the case, which has been paid in full. Please consider a donation or becoming a Patreon supporter to help fund document releases such as these.

NASA FOIA Case 21-HQ-F-00603 consisted of asking for the following:

ALL emails, with any level of classification (list of NASA personnel below), which
contain the following keywords:

“Unidentified Aerial” and/or
“Unidentified Flying” and/or
“UAP” and/or
“UFO” and/or
“Unidentified Spacecraft” and/or
“Unidentified aircraft” and/or
“UAPTF”

and requested a search of the following NASA personnel:

• Mike Gold, Acting Associate Administrator, Office of International and Interagency Relations (November 2019 – May 2021)
• Joel Montalbano, International Space Station (ISS) Program Manager (January 1, 2020, through the date of processing the request)
• Margaret Kieffer, Director of the Export Control and Interagency Liaison Division (January 1, 2017 – the date of processing this request)
• Suzanne Gillen, Former Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs (January 1, 2017 – January 20, 2021)
• Dr. Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, Research AST, Planetary Studies (August 1, 2015 – the date of processing this request)
• Sandra E. Connelly, Deputy Associate Administrator (January 1, 2020 – the date of processing this request)
• Karen Feldstein, Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations (January 1, 2016 – the date of processing this request)
• Dr. Michael New, Deputy Associate Administrator for Research (June 1, 2018 – the date of processing this request)
• Dr. Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division Director (April 1, 2000 – the date of processing this request)
• Bhavya Lal, Senior Advisor for Budget and Finance (January 1, 2020 – the date of processing this request)
• Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Science Associate Administrator (June 11, 2021 – the date of processing this request)

Interim Release #1 – No records release, only acknowledgement of request

Interim Release #2 [39 Pages, 0.8MB] – Emails to/from Joel Montalbano, Sandra Connelly, Margaret Kieffer
and Bhavya Lal.

Interim Release #3 [174 Pages, 5.4MB] – More emails to/from Sandra Connelly, Margaret Kieffer, and Bhavya Lal.

Interim Release #4 [75 Pages, 1.5MB] – Emails to/from Margaret Kieffer and Karen Feldstein.

Interim Release #5 [375 Pages, 18MB] – Emails to/from Ravi Kumar Kopparapu. NOTE: NASA released some Google Document links I opted to redact in orange. I chose to do so because at the time of publishing these documents, I believe it was a mistake. The document from what I can tell was not public; was not a NASA product; and offered editing privileges. The rest is unedited.

Final Release #6 [771 Pages, 77MB] – This is the 6th, and final, release from NASA on this specific request. The records are from Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, Michael New, Karen Feldstein, Bhavya Lal, and Margret Kieffer.

NRO Release #1 [5 Pages, 1.2MB] – These pages were released by NRO, as having been referred over for review. They were released October 20, 2022, having been referred to them in August of the same year, and sent to The Black Vault from the NRO via email.

Congressman Tim Burchett and Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna Communications with NASA & Records Relating To Tweet Addressing NASA “Backed Out” of UAP Hearing

NASA FOIA Case 23-00706-F-HQ

This particular case asked for:

“I respectfully request a copy of all communications between NASA; and Congressman Tim Burchett (including his staff/office) and Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (including her staff/office) about a July 2023 hearing about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.

I ask that you include all emails, letters, memos, faxes and other means of communications between all parties mentioned. Congressman Burchett has made reference to NASA “backing out” of their now scheduled July 26, 2023, hearing on UAP. This request, I would ask all forms of communication between the Congressman and Congresswoman, ALONG WITH, all internal emails regarding the same, be responsive to this request.

When it comes to internal correspondence (or even inter-agency, if applicable) I ask that all classified and unclassified records are searched. I also ask that you include any email attachments found during the search.

To further specify so documents could be located, NASA responded on Twitter to this allegation, and stated David Spergel was invited but declined. He, or the Congress(wo)man’s office, likely communicated with Spergel and NASA’s Office of Public Affairs to coordinate.

I also ask that you include all internal communications about the tweet sent out by NASA, regarding how they wanted to respond to the allegation made by Congressman Burchett. These records are also likely in the Office of Public Affairs, specifically the person(s) who run NASA’s Twitter account.”

No records turned up when it came to Congressman Burchett or Congresswoman Luna, or their offices, but records did turn about about NASA’s tweet addressing the allegation they “backed out” of the UAP hearing.

The records released are available below.

23-00706-F-HQ [11 Pages, 1.2MB]

Dr. Daniel Evans, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Research, Emails – NASA FOIA Case 22-HQ-F-00593

This particular case asked for:

“ALL emails sent to/from, bcc’d or cc’d, Dr. Daniel Evans, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Research, which contain the following keywords:

“Unidentified Aerial”

and/or

“Unidentified Flying”

and/or

“UAP”

and/or

“UFO”

and/or

“Unidentified Spacecraft”

and/or

“Unidentified aircraft”

22-HQ-F-00593 [187 Pages, 3.7MB]

Lonnie Shekhtman Emails – NASA FOIA Case 23-00084-F-GSFC

This particular case asked for:

“All emails, with any level of classification, which contain the following keywords: “Unidentified Aerial” and/or “Unidentified Flying” and/or “UAP” and/or “UFO” and/or “Unidentified Spacecraft” and/or “Unidentified aircraft” and/or “UAPTF” and/or “AARO” and/or “Anomaly Resolution” PLEASE INCLUDE ALL ATTACHMENTS TO EMAILS FOUND. I ask that you search the follow e-mail boxes, with the time frames in the parentheticals: – Lonnie Shekhtman (May 1, 2018, through the date of processing this request) You may omit any newspaper articles that are publicly available, which do NOT contain commentary. Should the email have additional commentary including a newspaper, I ask that you please include those as responsive to this request.”

Ms. Shekhtman is a senior science writer for NASA.

During the FOIA case negotiation, The Black Vault excluded “Anomaly Resolution” given the broad nature of the term. The remaining keywords were search and records released.

23-00084-F-GSFC [347 Pages, 13MB]
23-00599-F-GSFC [14 Pages, 1.1MB] – A second request was filed to get additional records after the first request above.

Enigma Labs & NASA Communications NASA FOIA Case 23-00245-F-HQ

This particular case asked for:

“… a copy of all communications, whether through email, mail, fax, or otherwise, between NASA and the company Enigma Labs, with a web address of https://enigmalabs.io/.

To help round down the scope of records sought, this company has claimed collaboration between NASA and themselves, on the UAP issue. With NASA’s current UAP investigation, I believe that should help zero in on where the responsive records would be located.

I ask that you release all communications sent to/from (or cc’d/bcc’d NASA) between your agency and Enigma Labs. I ask that all attachments found on those emails, be included as responsive to this request, whether they be PowerPoint presentations, photos, videos, or whatever other format that may be attached.”

23-00245-F-HQ [20 Pages, 0.8MB]

One page from the above request was referred to the DoD for processing. That was eventually released, and revealed as an invitation for a “Zoom or phone call.” Given the scope of the request, the date of October 18, 2022, likely was a meeting between Enigma Labs and Sean Kirkpatrick of AARO.

23-F-1040 [3 Pages, 0.6MB]

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Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator Randy Cruz – NASA FOIA Case 22-HQ-F-00140

NASA FOIA Case 22-HQ-F-00140 asked for the following:

“… emails sent to or from, bcc’d or cc’d, Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator Randy Cruz which contain the following keywords: “Unidentified Aerial” and/or, “Unidentified Flying” and/or, “UAP” and/or, “UFO” and/or, “Unidentified Spacecraft” and/or, “Unidentified aircraft” and/or, “UAPTF” dated 8/01/2018 to 07/31/2021.”

The request yielded more than 1,100 pages of material. After the first release, the case was closed with 247 pages being referred to the Department of Navy for review and release. That case is still ongoing.

Release #1 [1,135 Pages, 3.6MB] – Note: There are many NASA Morning Briefing emails in this release, which in part, will be unresponsive to this request. However, there are still many gems hidden throughout, including one never-before-heard-of event, seen below.

Release #2 [129 Pages, 1.8MB] – These records were released by the Department of the Navy on September 17, 2024. These were the referred pages from NASA to the Navy, which should have totaled 247 pages, as noted in Release #1 above. However, the Navy responded stating NASA supplied only 127 pages. An appeal has been filed.

“Extreme Acceleration by UAPs” Event

One particular revelation from the above release, was the discovery of an October 6, 2020, virtual event with the title, “Extreme Acceleration by UAPs.” It was said to be a presentation given by Robert Powell, founder of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), along with Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, delivering introductory remarks.

At first glance, it appeared to may be just an event held by SCU, and Michael Gold, Former Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships, was sent an unsolicited invitation. However, at closer glance, you can see that Gold received the invitation from a Rich Coleman, and in the signature line, he signed it as the President of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Association. Gold then sent it to Randy Cruz, Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator, saying “I just got this but FYI if you’re interested in attending…”

When researching this Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Association group, nothing is really found that connects to this group online nor are there any references to it. However, Richard Coleman, along with Alexandra Hale who also appeared in the signature block as the Vice President of the group, do run an organization known as the Space Transportation Association (STA) with the same titles. According to their website, the STA is “dedicated to supporting policies that advance robust, affordable space transportation for NASA, DOD, and commercial markets.”

There is no contact information on STA’s website, but The Black Vault reached out to Powell and Mellon for comment on the 2020 event.

According to Powell, this was “not a public event.” In addition, he said , “There were 41 people at the presentation,” but declined to name any who attended nor would confirm if they were from the government or military. The only information he gave on the attendees was that they “…were not from the world of ufology.”

When Mellon was asked by The Black Vault for comment, only minimal information was received in return. The first response was that his “plans changed” insinuating that he did not attend the event. He also called the document a “nothing burger.”

The Black Vault followed up to confirm that he definitely did not attend, and if the introductory remarks were given by someone else, but Mellon only responded with, “…not ringing a bell.”

Powell was asked to confirm Mellon’s attendance, but declined to answer.

NASA was also asked by The Black Vault on whether their personnel attended on official business, but they declined to comment stating that Gold, Cruz and NASA Director at the time James Bridenstine no longer were at the agency, and they would need to be contacted directly for confirmation.

Attempts were made to contact the three individuals, but as of the writing of this article, no responses were received.

Christy Hansen, Goddard Airborne Sciences Manager Emails – NASA FOIA Case 23-00082-F-GSFC

NASA FOIA Case 23-00082-F-GSFC asked for the following:

ALL emails, with any level of classification, which contain the following keywords:

“Unidentified Aerial”

and/or

“Unidentified Flying”

and/or

“UAP”

and/or

“UFO”

and/or

“Unidentified Spacecraft”

and/or

“Unidentified aircraft”

and/or

“UAPTF”

and/or

“AARO”

and/or

“Anomaly Resolution”

PLEASE INCLUDE ALL ATTACHMENTS TO EMAILS FOUND.

I ask that you search the follow e-mail boxes, with the time frames in the parentheticals:

– Christy Hansen, Goddard Airborne Sciences Manager (January 1, 2016, through the date of processing this request)

This request was stemmed from a discovery above about NASA’s balloon program, and how the NRO was seeking out possible culprits to “UFO Sightings” they were receiving from pilots encountering balloons.

23-00082-F-GSFC [41Pages, 4.2MB]

I wrote a thread on X about this, as well, that may be of interest:

 

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