Video · 15 May 1963

Mercury-Atlas 9: Gordon Cooper on luminous particles and the flashing beacon, 15 May 1963 (NASA audio, NASA-UAP-D011)

NASA via DVIDS, PURSUE release 02 · 15 May 1963 · 8 min · Watch the original

A longer excerpt from Gordon Cooper's Mercury-Atlas 9 flight: sunrise over the haze layer, brilliant white particles drifting from the capsule, the release of a flashing xenon beacon he later finds in the dark, and the “fireflies” that come off whenever he fires a thruster, which ties them to the spacecraft itself.

Source: NASA, released by the Department of War in PURSUE (NASA-UAP-D011), via DVIDS. Whisper transcript.

Key moments

  1. 0:00 Gordon Cooper: Cooper describes sunrise: “the brilliant blue of sun rising in the east. Bright blue band underneath all this haze layer.”
  2. 1:30 Gordon Cooper: The small particles: “In this light, they appear brilliant white”; he has not yet seen the beacon, but heard “considerable noise”: “It sounded like the little doors blowing open. So I assume the beacon has departed.”
  3. 7:01 Gordon Cooper: After dark: “Next time I fire a pitch-down thruster, I get a shower of these little fireflies.” He then spots the deployed flashing beacon: “It is flashing now”, about 10 to 12 miles away.

Transcript

From machine transcription (Whisper); names and terms may be misspelled. Check the original video before quoting.

0:00 And I began to get the brilliant blue of sun rising in the east. Bright blue band underneath all this haze layer. I can see the haze layer. And the right band of light demarcation coming underneath it. Quite distinctive. There's a faint. To it. It's where there are clouds, apparently. Roger and wife, A7, reading you loud, clear.

1:00 Roger, understand. Roger, I'm just small in forward, 180 degree yaw, approaching sunrise. Over. Roger. These small luminescent particles drift away from you. Small in forward. In this light, they appear brilliant white without seeing it all in them. They appear to move on out. Ever around, back towards the flight path. It's down here, I don't think. Roger, you haven't seen the beacon at this time. Negative, I still haven't seen the beacon. Roger. There was considerable noise, though, as if something were departing. Again, 7. There was considerable noise of the little

2:00 doors. It sounded like the little doors blowing open. So I assume the beacon has departed. Roger, understand. TM looks real good on the ground. Roger. Thank you. Okay, you confirm TV control switch to off. Roger. TV control is off. We had a slight decrease in the two links on

3:05 DC current. Would you give us a readout? Roger. DC current. Roger. Main bus is 24. Isolated 28.5. Roger. This is Wally. Did you have anything to eat? I'm planning to shortly here, though.

4:43 Roger. The whole state is clear. I can see. I'm just about off. There's been a beautiful view coming over Florida. Thank you.

6:43 I'm on 180 yaw. I got here on manual proportional control. I'm at last daylight going in the dark. I've been looking for the flashing beacon. 50518. Now, 28, I'm sorry, not 18. It's light in sight. It is below me. It's quite a brownish, reddish-brown and considerable altitude above the ground. Next time I fire a pitch-down thruster, I get a shower of these little fireflies. It is flashing now. It is the light. It's quite bright, quite discernible.

7:46 I'm looking at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. It's to be about 10 to 12 miles away. I'm keeping it directly in the window. At the order of a second magnitude star now.

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