Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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.

20
Schirra - Very good, a better way of saying it.
O'Keefe - "Airglow" is a very complicated term. We don't know
what it is all about. That's what we are after. . . .
Schirra - In fact, on occasion I have used airglow through
here just out of ignorance. I think what we all are trying
to do right here is to try and clear up some of this ignorance;
so we need more data, of course. Then,I say (reading from the
Blue Book again) "We'll see if she holds up," meaning, can I
track Mercury through all this? That was interesting in
itself, that I could, I thought.
O'Keefe - This was quite important. This was one of the
questions raised by Glenn on his flight whether some layers
are opaque or not.
Schirra - I could track Mercury through all of these points
or layers.
Nicks - Does it change its apparent size like the sun when it
sets?
Schirra ~ I don't recall having observed this.
Roman - Did you see any additional stars ... the fact that it
has a finite disk (Mercury)?
Schirra - No, again the window cuts out the fun of that, I
think.
O'Keefe - No, you wouldn't see a disk ....
Schirra - It would have been great to have had some magnifying
device at this point to make this observation. No, it just looked