{"type":"programs","slug":"project-moon-dust","title":"Project Moon Dust","url":"https://disclosdex.com/programs/project-moon-dust","description":"Cold War USAF effort to recover foreign space debris and evaluate UFO sightings from the 1950s onward","date":"1953-07-01T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Recovery"],"updated":"2025-06-13T13:26:43.000Z","connectionCount":0,"content":{"markdown":"## Retrievals of Unidentified Objects\n\nThe Air Force organized Project Moon Dust to secure and analyze objects returning from space that might reveal adversary technology.[^1][^5] Teams collected satellite fragments and sometimes investigated UFO reports through cooperating embassies.[^2][^3] The program reportedly persisted into the 1990s[^4] before being replaced.\n\n\n[^1]: [CIA FOIA: Project Moon Dust](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81b00263r000100040001-9)\n[^2]: [GovernmentAttic: Recovery of Deorbited Space Debris (Moon Dust), 1967-1972](https://www.governmentattic.org/54docs/ProjMoondust1967-1972.pdf)\n[^3]: [The Black Vault: Project Moon Dust FOIA Files](https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/project-moon-dust/)\n[^4]: [CUFON: U.S. State Department UFO Documents Reviewed and Released 7 Feb 2000](https://www.cufon.org/cufon/StateDeptRepts.pdf)\n[^5]: [USAF FOIA Correspondence: Blue Fly and Moon Dust](https://cufon.org/cufon/foia_009.htm)","readingTime":"1 min read"},"relatedRecords":[],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/programs/project-moon-dust","title":"Project Moon Dust","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/programs/project-moon-dust","license":"CC-BY-4.0"}}