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.
“Headquarters”6 pages
I 23 blue scout had been launched from Vandenberg (AF$). It had the most fantastic lighting I have ever seen anywhere~ It had the exhaust trail and above the horizon it had this fantastic glow - ionization glow (like a vapor · cloud) would describe it as - which would best pin down - resemble the zodiacal light if you ever wanted to do it ~ It had a band across the horizon about 60 to 70 degrees · and it · went right up the ecliptic and picked up the moon · and the · planets. It was just amazing. Shoemaker - How far could you trace it? Schirra - I could see it right up to the zenith as much as I could see out the cockpit. We were all oohing and ahing. I think you have seen this same glow from a booster · flight at night, particularly if you can pick up a sunset or · sunrise when you get above the earth's shadow and get into the lighted area where the booster is. There is a tremendous · expansion wave that's behind the vehicle and this is basically what it looks like. Dubin - These pictures of Glenn's Atlas flight show the same thing . o o o Schirra - I think it was mine you saw ... O'Keefe - What you saw from the cockpit - was it from the blue streak or was it the zodiacal light? Schirra - I think the two just drew it together and that it was definitely stimulated by this blue streak as it went up almost up the ecliptic in relation to the arc field of view.
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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.