NASA-UAP-D011 / MERCURY ATLAS 9 AUDIO EXCERPT, MAY 15, 1963
During the final and longest flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 9 mission (MA-9) Faith 7 Pilot L. Gordon Cooper Jr. describes the brilliant blue of sunrise beneath the haze layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. As he ap
About this recording
NASA-UAP-D011 / MERCURY ATLAS 9 AUDIO EXCERPT, MAY 15, 1963 is a declassified NASA mission audio recording from Low Earth Orbit, dated 5/15/63. It is part of PURSUE Release 02 — the Department of War’s second tranche of UAP-related records, declassified on 2026-05-22 — and is hosted by the Department of Defense via the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).
AARO assessment
During the final and longest flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 9 mission (MA-9) Faith 7 Pilot L. Gordon Cooper Jr. describes the brilliant blue of sunrise beneath the haze layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. As he approaches sunrise, he describes small, luminous, brilliant white particles drifting away from the spacecraft. Cooper describes observing “fireflies” after deploying beacons, which are spherical mission-related equipment with xenon strobe lights.
How to listen
The audio can be played and downloaded directly from the official DVIDS asset page. UAP.WATCH does not host the audio file directly to preserve the government chain-of-custody. All 7 PURSUE Release 02 audio recordings are listed in the browse archive.
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