Video · 15 May 1963
Mercury-Atlas 9: Gordon Cooper sees “John's fireflies”, 15 May 1963 (NASA audio, NASA-UAP-D010)
NASA via DVIDS, PURSUE release 02 · 15 May 1963 · 3 min · Watch the original
Gordon Cooper on the last Mercury flight, Faith 7, describing the “fireflies” John Glenn first reported in 1962: small whitish-green particles drifting from the capsule at sunrise. AARO's description notes that NASA attributed them to frozen condensation from the spacecraft, lit by the sun.
Source: NASA, released by the Department of War in PURSUE (NASA-UAP-D010), via DVIDS. Whisper transcript.
Key moments
- 0:00 Gordon Cooper: Cooper, at one hour 21 minutes: “I am observing John's fireflies drifting away from me”, some of them a considerable distance out to the rear, as the sun comes up behind him.
- 0:50 Gordon Cooper: Cooper: “Fireflies appear to be white, very whitish, with almost a green like real fireflies.” (NASA later attributed the “fireflies” to frozen condensation leaving the spacecraft.)
- 2:44 Gordon Cooper: The Earth is light below, the sky dark above: “I can see stars very distinctly.”
Transcript
From machine transcription (Whisper); names and terms may be misspelled. Check the original video before quoting.
0:00 And now at one hour at this time, I now have one hour and 21 minutes, and I am observing John's fireflies drifting away from me. I can observe them incredibly departing from the spacecraft and drifting out to the rear. I can see some of them a considerable distance out to the rear. The sun is coming up behind me. I'm beginning to get the glow on the clouds.
1:07 Fireflies appear to be white, very whitish, with almost a green like real fireflies. Fireflies are coming up behind me. I'm going to get the glow on the clouds.
2:43 Fireflies are coming up again. Not yet quite up. And I am observing stars. The Earth is light below me. The sun is still behind me. The sky looks dark above me. And I can see stars very distinctly.
Connected files
Official records (PURSUE)
- NASA-UAP-D010 — Mercury Atlas 9 Audio Excerpt, May 15, 1963 (recording of)
People
- Gordon Cooper (features)
Organizations
- NASA (about)
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- Apollo 17: bright “fragments” drifting near the spacecraft, 7 December 1972 (NASA audio, NASA-UAP-D009)
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