Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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.

Scientific Debriefing
Cooper: Just once.
Bill Armstrong: Did you do it twice or Just once?
·'.1,
Cooper: No, , I kept it 1n s,ight for quite awhile ·ap.d then yawed away from ·it
and then came right back.
Cooper: At 05:13:40 I made some coments on the Mi1q Way and varioW;J
things and at 05:16:35 the light was still in sight. Thunderstorms were
in under it at the moment but it was still quite distinctive.. And this
at 05:18:05.
Bill Armstrong: What brightness do you think you need if you ·.are . going to
try to acquire some target in space.
Cooper: It was very distinctive both t1I!1-es. At this brightness where i~
was on the second .night side af'ter the ejection, both times it was very
'
distinctive more than ·the brightness of course, it was the flashingo , On
the third night side it was extreme~ faint but the ·flashing allowed me,to
'pick it up.· I wouldn't have been .able to see it .the third night but
fl.ashing.
Bill .Armstrong: Do you think that either at the initial acquisition -of the
. >
.thing ·or ·e,ven toward. the end of the second night phase the 1?rightnessl would "_
- . ... .. :
b~ sufficient if you wOUld be •t7:Ying to l~cate a re~de~vous target'l :·