Mercury Atlas 8 Audio Excerpt, October 3, 1962

Date: 3 Oct 1962
Place: Low Earth Orbit
Record: Pentagon file
Assessment: Not assessed
Evidence strength

467 case pages by decade; this one falls in 1960s with 49 othersAll cases

What was reported

Per the blurb, Sigma 7 pilot Wally Schirra describes 'little white objects that tend to come from the capsule itself and drift off,' also calling them 'particles' and 'lathe shavings,' plus a separate burst of light in the window whose source he could not identify, which he speculates corresponds to sunset.

What officials concluded

Tentative explanation

Schirra himself speculates the light burst corresponds to the moment the sun passes below the horizon at sunset; the particles are attributed to the capsule itself, consistent with the batch's recurring spacecraft-debris phenomenon.

Agency: NASA
Released in

Evidence profile

Sensors1 of 9

Yes: Visual
No: Infrared
No: Radar
No: Video
No: Photo
No: Film
No: Audio
No: Night vision
No: Other sensor

Witnessescount not stated

No: Civilian
No: Military aircrew
No: Military ground
No: Airline crew
No: Sensor operator
No: Law enforcement
No: Scientist
No: Astronaut
No: Intelligence official
Yes: Other

ShapeLight only

Yes: Light only
No: Orb or sphere
No: Disc
No: Triangle
No: Cylinder
No: Cube
No: Other shape

Effectsnone reported

No: Physiological
No: Physical trace
No: Electromagnetic
No: Sound
No: Silent

Why this rating Blurb-only; particles match the recurring spacecraft-debris phenomenon, and the light burst is offered a tentative, self-supplied conventional explanation (sunset) by the witness himself.

As described in the file

Witnesses: Walter M. Schirra Jr. (per blurb)
Sensors: Visual
Shape: Resembling lathe shavings
Size: Small
Lights and colour: White particles; a separate burst of light
Motion: Drifting off from the capsule

Pentagon files

AudioNASA-UAP-D012Release 2
Mercury Atlas 8 Audio Excerpt, October 3, 1962
Open the original on dvidshub.net

What the file claims

Unverified
Schirra described small white particles ('lathe shavings') drifting from the capsule and a separate unidentified burst of light he speculated coincided with sunset.