Series synopsis
UFOs: Investigating the Unknown is an American documentary television series that premiered on National Geographic on February 13, 2023. It stars Leslie Kean and Chris Mellon.
The truth behind the U.S. government's secret Pentagon program on UAPs, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, otherwise known as UFOs, is exposed.
Premise
The truth behind the U.S. government's secret Pentagon program on UAPs, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, otherwise known as UFOs, is exposed.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Leslie Kean as Self – Investigative Journalist
- Chris Mellon as Self – Former Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Guest cast
- Luis Elizondo as Self - Former Counterintelligence Agent
- Kirsten Gillibrand as Self - Senate Armed Services Committee
- André Carson as Self - House Intelligence Subcommittee
- John A. Samford as Self - Dir. of Intelligence, U.S. Air Force (archive footage)
- David Fravor as Self - Former Navy Pilot
- Alex Dietrich as Self - Former Navy Pilot
- Chad Underwood as Self - Former Weapons Systems Officer
- Helene Cooper as Self - New York Times Pentagon Correspondent
- John Podesta as Self - Former White House Chief of Staff
- Harry Reid as Self - Former Senate Majority Leader
- Ralph Blumenthal as Self - Former Staff Reporter, New York Times
- Seth Shostak as Self - Sr. Astronomer, SETI Institute
Episodes
This series spans 2 seasons with 11 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 5 | February 13, 2023 | February 27, 2023 |
| Season 2 | 6 | January 8, 2025 | February 12, 2025 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Secret Pentagon Program For more than five decades the US government has refused to discuss UFOs, but now, Navy pilots tell of seeing mysterious objects tracking their fighter jets – vehicles unlike anything they’ve ever seen before; top-secret Naval videos are leaked that captivate the world. Government officials, led by former U.S. Senator Harry Reid, demand an investigation. At long last, it looks like the truth about UFOs may finally be revealed. |
February 13, 2023 |
| 2 |
Giant UFO in Texas In 2008 in Stephenville, Texas a local pilot sees lights in the sky over his ranch coming from something huge. He is not alone: hundreds of people saw the craft, and a local reporter makes it her life's work to tell their stories. From this classic encounter we head back several decades to the beginning of the UFO phenomenon in America and the launch of Project Blue Book to study the country's growing "UFO problem". |
February 13, 2023 |
| 3 |
Close Encounters at Nuclear Bases Project Blue Book and the investigation into UFOs closes. There is no evidence that mysterious objects represent any threat to U.S. national security. But harrowing incidents of UFO sightings continue and the unexplained malfunction of U.S. nuclear missiles after an incursion leave the U.S. defenseless. Three former Air Force officers, who served at nuclear weapons bases in the late 1960s, break two decades of silence to tell their story. |
February 20, 2023 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The UFO Whistleblower An explosive congressional hearing reignites a decades-long fight for government transparency on UFOs. A whistleblower provides explosive testimony. Fighter pilots and military personnel describe strange sightings, and the U.S. government is forced to consider a new approach to how they analyze and make public UFO sightings. |
January 8, 2025 |
| 2 |
Pilots Speak Out A former Navy pilot, who helped blow the whistle on the government's secrecy around UFOs, becomes an advocate for commercial pilots who have nowhere to report the sightings their trained eyes cannot explain. Activists push for legislation to address the toll, the issue takes on pilots. |
January 15, 2025 |
| 3 |
Scientists on the Cutting Edge Scientists across academia take matters into their own hands, employing a variety of cutting-edge tools to study UFO phenomena. Using AI, precise radar systems, advances in physics and analyses of historical images, they hope to collect data that reveals the source of these mysterious sightings. |
January 22, 2025 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | National Geographic |
|---|---|
| First aired | February 13, 2023 |
| Last aired | February 12, 2025 |
| Runtime | 43 minutes |
| Status | continue |