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.
“Coast to Coast AM”3 pages
.. I Scientific Debriefing Question: . What did it check out'l i -ii' •. 1 j ~ Carmines: ·.62 (flashes per minute). l \ Bill: Did you make attempts to see it· on the day side'l Cooper: I sure did. I never saw it then• . Armstrong: It should ·have been closer on the dey side than in the night portiono It came 1in c;l.oser, arid started out away some time during ·the f:t,rst ., day. pass ) Before you picked it up it had started out again. It should have been in to about two miles sometime during the first day sideo didn't find it, but e·efore I got to the next night side,- I brought yaw back ,' • Cooper: At first I was on 180 degrees .yaw, and allowed it to dri:f't offo ·, ' ' ' _ . • ~ ,,,.,)II'~ • • ••; to 180 degreeso· There was a possib_ility I .missed •it thereo . , , McKee: Did the flash seem very consistant'l Cooper: Yes, it seemed to be very consistant . ~ . Carmines: Did you see it tumble'l Cooper: Carmines:
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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.