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
( . -32-fcienti f ic Debriefing ' I I ~'Keefe : Somevlhat of a pattern? I • •i¢,ooper: That's right. A pattern over the outside of th~ window as well as the scum on the inside; ( l · ()'Keefe: It this had 'been scattered light you would have had this pattern? •. Cooper: That's right • . (Dim Light _photograpbs.) . Presentation of Dim Light Phenomena.:1 Roach, 0'Keefe, Huell.Day: Roach: You had above this haze layer another layer. •Would you sketch that'l (Illustration.) • I am almost certain this was .about 24 hoursICooper: This one time I did have it. and 30 minutes over South America. , I was facing to the east and was on dri:f't, I think. I was_looking to the east, northeast area. I was in ful1 dri:f't. 0'Keefe: Reference was on page 26. Cooper: That was the luminous activity on page 37. "Righi? now I can .make ou1; a lot of luminous activities in an easterly direction." This was at 05 11 34 and on a 05 13 40. The Milky Way was quite distinct. This particular time (over South ' America) I couldn't make out on this layer. I wouldn't say it was mu~ like a. layer. ' / ' • It wasn't distinct and it didn't last long; but it was higher than I was. It wasn't / in the vicinity of the horizon and was not well defined. Roach: More like a patch? Cooper: Smoother. It was a good sized area. • Roach: You didn't feel this bad' a discrete shape? It was a faint glow with a reddish brownIt was very indistinct 1n· shape. ; Cooper: . cast. · Roa.ch: Because of your altitude or what'l . : I .,---.-~--~--~-~---___;·.......1-1.--
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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.