NASA-UAP-D012, Mercury Atlas 8 Audio Excerpt, October 3, 1962
Official description
During the Mercury Atlas 8 mission, Sigma 7 pilot Walter M. “Wally” Schirra Jr. describes observing “little white objects that tend to come from the capsule itself and drift off.” Schirra later also refers to those objects as “particles” and “lathe shavings.” Schirra also describes seeing a burst of light in the window, whose source he cannot identify. He speculates that his observation corresponds with the moment the sun passes below the horizon during sunset.
✦ AI summary
This is an in-flight audio excerpt from Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7), recorded October 3, 1962. The single speaker is pilot Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., transmitting observations during orbital flight as the spacecraft approaches sunset. Schirra repeatedly describes small white objects drifting near the capsule, at first mistaking one for a star (Arcturus) before identifying it as one of the particles. He and an unnamed colleague (referenced as "John," likely John Glenn, who reported similar phenomena on MA-6) compare the objects to lathe shavings drifting off the spacecraft. Schirra also reports an unexplained "burst of light" in the window, which he tentatively links to the sun dropping below the horizon at sunset. The remainder covers routine attitude/periscope status calls as the periscope darkens and blocks out near orbital sunset. No ground/CapCom voice is present in this excerpt.
Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.
▸Transcript
[00:00] I have some pretty stars in sight, and also I have the little white objects that seem to come from the capsule itself and drift off. [00:16] And if they are a yaw check, it's fantastic. [00:20] I suspect that the star I see is Arcturus, but they're very interesting. [00:28] It is neither. It is one of the white objects. [00:37] So now two stars are standing quite still. The white object actually looked like it came toward me, but it wasn't. [00:50] You can actually see the particle there, flying off, and as John described it, there's a lathe shaving. It's a very good description of it. [01:03] My rates are now just about zero in all three axes. [01:19] I still have light in the periscope, of course. I'm looking straight up, and yet at this point, there's the view that my attitude is... [01:32] [unintelligible]. I really can't pick it too early on. Just about inverted at this point. [01:44] And if my nose is above the horizon, as a result, I notice that these particles keep tending after me, relative to me, at any time. [02:10] The periscope is blocking up rather rapidly at sunset. [02:20] It's almost blocked out completely at this point, and it's really not much use to me. [02:50] It gave a real burst of light in the window, and I really don't know what it is. [03:12] At this point, I should be coming up on a sunset. Five hours and 15 minutes. The periscope is dark. [03:22] I must be just getting a last look at the horizon, getting that down on it.
Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.
Source: U.S. Department of War / AARO — public domain · war.gov/ufo
Entities in this document
Connected cases
NASA-UAP-D010, Mercury Atlas 9 Audio Excerpt, May 15, 1963
NASA-UAP-D015, Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963
NASA-UAP-D018, Gemini 4 Experiment Debriefing, 1967
NASA-UAP-D023, Interview Excerpt with Astronaut Gordon Cooper, 1962
NASA-UAP-D011, Mercury Atlas 9 Audio Excerpt, May 15, 1963
