Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963
During the earliest American orbital missions, John Glenn and Walter Schirra both reported seeing unexplained luminous phenomena from space — and NASA took it seriously enough to conduct formal debriefings and launch a scientific investigation. This collection brings together those interview transcripts alongside internal memos, correspondence, and a theoretical analysis of atmospheric particle behavior dating back to 1955, offering a rare window into how early NASA scientists tried to make sense of what two of the country's most credible observers were describing. The sections flagged for the PURSUE initiative — spanning nearly 80 pages — suggest this material fed into something larger than routine post-flight review.
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.