Mercury Program UAP Audio Recordings
Project Mercury voice loops declassified under PURSUE Release 02 (2026-05-22) — Mercury-Atlas 7, 8, and 9 plus Mercury-Redstone 4 — capture astronauts describing 'fireflies,' 'snowflakes,' 'lathe shavings,' and 'particles' drifting near their spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
Project Mercury — the United States' first crewed spaceflight program — produced repeated astronaut reports of unidentified luminous particles drifting alongside the spacecraft in orbit. The phenomenon was first described as 'fireflies' by John Glenn during Mercury-Atlas 6 on February 20, 1962. PURSUE Release 02 declassifies four follow-on Mercury audio recordings — Mercury-Redstone 4 (July 1961), MA-7 (May 1962), MA-8 (October 1962), and MA-9 (May 1963) — that capture the same phenomenon described by Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper. NASA's later assessment attributes the phenomenon to frozen water condensation separating from the spacecraft body and reflecting sunlight, producing a 'white green-hued appearance.'
“Look exactly like snowflakes.”
Mercury-Atlas 7: Scott Carpenter (May 1962)
Mercury-Atlas 7 was the fourth crewed Project Mercury spaceflight and the second American orbital mission. Pilot Scott Carpenter, flying the Aurora 7 capsule on May 24, 1962, described white particles in view that appear to move at 'random' and 'look exactly like snowflakes.' Carpenter characterized the particles as reflective, with some appearing to move faster than the Aurora 7 spacecraft itself. PURSUE Release 02 catalogues the audio as NASA-UAP-D013 (UAP.WATCH ID AUD-006).
Mercury-Atlas 8: Wally Schirra (October 1962)
On October 3, 1962, Mercury-Atlas 8 pilot Walter M. 'Wally' Schirra Jr. described observing 'little white objects that tend to come from the capsule itself and drift off' from his Sigma 7 capsule. Schirra later referred to those objects as 'particles' and 'lathe shavings.' He also describes seeing a burst of light in the window whose source he could not identify, speculating it corresponded with the moment the sun passed below the horizon during sunset. PURSUE catalog entry NASA-UAP-D012 (AUD-005).
Mercury-Atlas 9: Gordon Cooper (May 1963)
Mercury-Atlas 9 — Faith 7 — was the final and longest flight of Project Mercury, piloted by L. Gordon Cooper Jr. on May 15, 1963. Approximately one hour and 41 minutes into the flight, Cooper notes that he sees 'John's fireflies,' referring back to John Glenn's MA-6 observation. A second MA-9 audio recording (AUD-004) captures Cooper describing 'small, luminous, brilliant white particles drifting away from the spacecraft' as he approaches orbital sunrise after deploying spherical beacon equipment with xenon strobe lights.
Mercury-Redstone 4: Liberty Bell 7 (July 1961)
Mercury-Redstone 4 was the fourth launch and second crewed spaceflight of Project Mercury. The MR-4 recovery audio (NASA-UAP-D014, UAP.WATCH ID AUD-007) captures the recovery team's recorded discussion during the post-splashdown operations on July 21, 1961, including discussion of a dye pack in the water that did not activate. This is the earliest recording in the PURSUE Mercury audio set.