Documents / Official release
This NASA file of astronaut scientific debriefing papers from 1962 collects internal Office of Space Sciences material on the science observations made on early Mercury flights. A February 1962 memo from Maurice Dubin asks for more detail on John Glenn's report of luminous particles and the atmospheric horizon layer. A draft memo concludes that the particles were tied to the spacecraft and were not extraterrestrial. The file also holds a Los Alamos letter that attributes the high haze layer to nitrogen peroxide, and notes on Carpenter's airglow observations.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This file contains memoranda, correspondence, reports, and other materials relating to contemporary scientific interest in investigating the nature of luminous phenomena reported by astronauts John Glenn and Walter Schirra during spaceflight. This collection includes transcripts from NASA interviews and debriefings with both astronauts regarding those observations. It also contains details relating to scientific observations of atmospheric phenomena, including brief descriptions of luminous particles, experiences while aboard spacecraft, and circa 1955 theoretical analysis of meteoric particles entering the atmosphere. Pages 34-35, 55-56, 57-63, 64-113, and 122-127 feature content relevant to the PURSUE initiative.
17 I was referring to here as the transition from the last blue band I could see to the total darkness of spaceo I gaess this is the only way I can describe thato This was a surprise to me to see thisp really o 0 °Keefe = Well, it is astonishing, isn't it? Schirra - Yes, it iso I expected to see a nice, sharply delin eated arcp and this was not the case by any means. O' Keefe - Whatever it was, it was turbulence? Schirra = Yes, this is the way I would describe it. It has to be or the light in a sense made it look turbulent. I think you have all seen the base of a thunderstorm as it comes towards you and the light starts diminishing rapidly as you get a thunderstorm o Just because it is so thick and almost opaque in contrast to sunlight that can get througho Then we see this vortex effect underneath it and this is very much the way I would describe it myselfo This was the transition from visible to no light o No sharp lineo I think you probably have it fairly well sketched right thereo Dubin = Have you seen the sketches? (Mrso Cameron's sketches of colored bands around the horizono) Sch i rra - No, I haven'to O' Keefe = Why don ut you take them around there, Mrs. Cameron 0 00 so we can get additions and corrections (to the drawings). (Schirra and Cameron looking at the drawings) Cameron = This is your first description (drawing shown to Schirra) oo o This is the second descriptiono ooo
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 216 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.