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
-2- The consistency in the observations on the three separate orbits would require that the particles were associated with the spacecraft itself ( I have heard that O'Keefe ~....~ ~~~ 6\ANI&~~ -..,..laA, ,,_-, has i;c;r,r9~9d the life support system which ~ ~ ....~ ~ ~ \'""~\~) \wM. ~ \: wat9z: i;a:t;e apaee) Col. Glenn iJjf described the ~ .,., particlei and the luminosity. The fact that the coloring a,~aPen~ ~~~,~ was a yellow-green and the eiiee~ive observational pi,e- became fluorescent in sunlight.~e particles observed in shadow were observed in the scattered light from the spacecraft and were probably illuminated only by visible ~- ~~f the spectrum. - ;l- The change of angles of the ~particles approaching e.""'1ft,- close th the~ spacecraft~ be attributed to the since repJesive charge HD the polarities of the particles and spacecraft were the same. The ability of Col. Glenn to observe the particles under improper dark adaptation ~ indicate'that an astronaut would be in a position to carry through a series of experi'1nents to investigate C.o~.L" the physics of Q.QmROMS in the solar environment. P.1wpe1 ry ~d°\he various gases and dust particles ejected ~ while from the spacecraft during~! c~.~nd ~tH'l,BS,! .o-\,,..U\..c.l, ~ ~~~ ~ > the spacheaft is in sunlight could be ~ by the a.\~ ........ c\M,\t.~~' astronaut- scientist ~ 1&.,"U!S...lt'emld!.r.sr--~~~09...~~~ed ~ Observati~ns of.~low ana:-/iaze: Limited by poor dark adaptation, Col. Glenn was not able to descibe any
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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.