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.
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LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY. ' .. UNIVERSITY OP' CALll"ORNIA . . l.09 ALAMO., NIEW MUICO TO: Dr. Jocelyn Gill -10 - DATI: July 13, 1962 field they saw, or to compare the intensity and color changes noted with that thru an absorbing cell containing N02 • • 'Ihe required thickness is readily availabl.e. Acknowledgments The author has benefited greatly from discussions with several associates, especially as regards references to sources of upper atmospheric .and photochemical data. Dr. Robert Sherman has assisted in location of data on the absorption cross section of N02 • Dr. Arthur Cox suggested a number of references and confirmed the author's belief that reasonably accurate photometric observations could be made on photographs of a star field. Dr. Ieston Miller has emphasized the importance of even crude control of the wavelengths responsible for exposure. All of the men mentioned ·above are members of the Los Alamos Scientific Iaboratory. Dr. J. A. 0' Keefe of the Theoretical Division of the Goddard Space Flight Center generously discussed the observations of J. Glenn and S. Carpenter, and my hypo thesis regarding N02 absorption. He has referred me to the excellent articl.es in "'Ille F.a.rth as a Planet" and encouraged my submission of this letter. Future Work I would, of course, be interested in your opinion, and that of other experts in the field, of the above hypothesis. If your group recommends inclusion of such J observations on a future flight, we may be ·able to help on some points in data acquisition. I am sure the project would deserve review and .control by a panel of men such as Bates and Nicolet.--- .......... Respectfully submitted, ~y--~ BOB E. WATI' Assoc. J-Div. Ldr.BEW:jo and Grp • .Ldr. J-16Distribution: l - Dr. Jocelyn Gill. .I '
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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.