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.
“Pacific Ocean”1 page
President he can observe and make plans judgments that no instrument Apollo s or animal can accomplish. As an example, Douglas said that Glenn, on his own initia tive, had turned his space· craft around 180 degrees on his s e c on d orbit to see Glenn, tried to terious " f' held 35-mi filled with Force doct tives showe ible but the whether the mysterious "fire- larged for clo flies" he had noticed on his perts. first orbit might be paint or In reloading other particles from his craft. Douglas said, G The astronaut found that the grip on a film o unknown o b j e ct s streamed floated in front past his window in the same weightless flight. direction as on his first sight- for H the tip of ing, proving they were inde- it and it "sailed pendent of the spacecraft. never could get _Scientists here b~lieve the again." s~1ll unknown luminous par- The astronaut r ticles, when fu~ther explored, he had no trouble may lead to rmportant new ta b 1 e ts and a knowledge of space ph~nom- s ueezed from a ena. No unmanned satelhte or Dq g 1a 'd0 observation from earth had de- u s sai tected anything like this be- ----------, fore . Glenn reported they were small, but as he lacked any checkpoint, it could be that the particles were more distant and larger than he th()lllght. Similarly, scientists are much interested in the luminous haze belt Glenn saw about 7 11ILK-Frou1, For An· t1 \ to 8 degrees above the horizon I over the dark pa_rt of the wards year•~ end an earth Tuesday. Soviet cosmo- . . naut Gherman Titov reported again next pring. seeing about the same thing, If the estimated level but there has been no expla- to be those actuall.ly nation of it as yet. d the will sti'll These observations, say Mer- ence • Y" . . cury officials, are an answer below the perm1ss1ble to those who have opposed els set by Government sending man into space when ciails. in~ruments can make obser- N M k d Strontiu Ris vations better and cheaper. 0 ar e m Astronaut Glenn himself The PHS yesterday also believes that the m~st signifi'. I ported that radioactive str cant technical result of his tium meas urements from Se flight was to prove the im- tember through NovemlJ portance of man as a pilot in 1961, do not "differ materia space travel. from those found prior to "We have piped man aboard ! sumption of Russian nucle as_ th~ pilot ~f spacecraft," he weapons te~ts ." Milk sampl said in nautical lingo. "Now from Washington, for exa we can get rid of some of that ple, averaged seven micro automatic equipment." microcuries per liter during Much of the weight of the September and 10 micromioro Friendship 7 capsule includes curies during October and No-I duplicating systems put in be• vember. cause it was not known These figures do not vary whether man could function in Igreatly from those reported a weightless state. for other American cities, The fact that man can be with the exception of Port an active pilot and not largely land , Ore., which showed 3 a passenger on a spacecraft micromicrocuries per 1 i t will have its impact on future during November. A P Mercury flights and later spokesman said the Port CORRECTION Inadvertently, a price was omitted in Food Fair's a in this newspaper yesterday. The Post regre and publishes the complete listing below: FRYERS or BROILERS
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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.