NASA-UAP-D010, Mercury Atlas 9 Audio Excerpt, May 15, 1963

Official Conclusion

Frozen condensation separating from the spacecraft body, with luminous appearance caused by sunlight reflection.

Official Description

Approximately one hour and 41 minutes into the final and longest flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 9 mission (MA-9) Faith 7 Pilot L. Gordon Cooper Jr. notes that he sees “John’s fireflies,” referring to John Glenn’s term from the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. NASA later determined that the “fireflies” are attributable to frozen condensation separating from the spacecraft body. The white, green-hued appearance of this phenomenon results from sunlight reflecting off frozen condensation.

Key Findings

• →Approximately 1 hour and 41 minutes into the MA-9 mission, astronaut Gordon Cooper observed luminous particles he referred to as 'John's fireflies,' a term coined by John Glenn during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission.
• →NASA officially attributed the 'fireflies' phenomenon to frozen condensation particles separating from the spacecraft body.
• →The white and green-hued luminous appearance of the particles was explained as sunlight reflecting off the frozen condensation.
• →The phenomenon was observed during the final and longest flight of Project Mercury.
• →The sighting has a documented, officially accepted mundane explanation and is not considered anomalous by NASA.

Extracted Entities