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.
“Los Angeles Times”3 pages
l §~ientific Debriefing . -35- Rpach: Is 'this :phenomenon very close to the sun'? Cpoper: I had the feeling that this was just a glow off the su.μ._ It was not 1: ' • ·'i 7,1.', ~P bri©J.t as the Millcy Way. :1 ~ : Mercer: Was it tipped to the right or le:f't of sunriseZ C~oper: I was sitting tipped myself and don't rememb~r vb.ich way it was. I have the imp.ression it was not vertical. Dr. Voas : It appears the red and gold you• described at sunset does not occur at dawn . . I Cooper : Sunset is more of a golden orange. Dr. Voas : Did you notice any of the flattening as the sun rose? Cooper: Not as much) but you do get a little bit. ,( Roach : Going back to the time just preceding retro, were you constantly on stellar observat ion before the dawn? Were you able to follow any stars'? . ... Cooper: Yes. With the sun to my back, the first thing I got -was the moon glow .. and through the cloud below I got Shanghai. The first •indication· you get of the sun going up behind you is the lightening of the clouds underneath and you note the clouds getting iighter and lighter and you can still see the stars. As you \ reach a certain point., your window gets enough light - your window appears 'completely frosted over. Roach : What star were you using? , Cooper: I was using Betelgeuse and tracking on .~ up from that to Sirius and Procyo~ and then I had a bS-l7ren area. Then I believe Castor and Pollux and Corvus was the last . I couldn't pick up Antares. By this time I -was getting good light on clouds.. The stars don't give ·you much yaw determination. You can si there for a long t ime and if 'you hold rates very close to zero you can get a fairly good. ' . . indicati on, but it is a lengthy process when you are determining yaw by seeing the ' ·-- ·movement ' of stars. ·-~...,.. --- - . - .·---' --~-~ f .
Not linked to a story yet.
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.