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.
“Nevers”23 pages
34 Dubin - W.as there any color whatever in it? Schirra - In the .airglow that I saw? No, other than during sunset times where you would have sunlight itself. Dubin - No color whatever? Schirra - I think of white as being all colors and you can see I've been trapped with painting~ few times. This patch was denser as you came into the middle of this belt. It definitely had tb · have a light stimulus to it or I wouldn't have seen it. I was well aware of this and thought this as I saw it. The initial impression that brought to my attention is, first off, and this is the liabil ity we have; we're wanting to see something that needs to be seen · with the naked eye when the inside of the vehicle is dark. Cameron - In the patch did you notice any variation in color eithe r horizontal or vertical? - Or was it all one? .Schirra - The airglow now we are ~iscussing? Cameron - The patth over (Madagascar). Schirra - Oh~ this patch, it seemed ... You can't keep t~ack of whethe r you a-re over. land or water continually and time is progressing fai rly rapidly; for example, on this particular period where we are talking in terms of 5 hours and 20 minutes, going back just a few minutes , am over Africa because I had left the southeast coast of Africa, in other words, Durban and this is the place I had one time in my mind wanted to see a flare and I did see cities and I know I saw Capetown which was in the clear. I talked to the Ambassador from that · section of Africa when we were at Goddard for the 5th year celebration of satellites, and he saiq, "Oh, I wish we had known that, because I
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 216 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.