Archive record · video

NASA-UAP-D012, Mercury Atlas 8 Audio Excerpt, October 3, 1962

Source label

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Catalog date

2026-05-22

Record type

video

Record summary

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.

This is archive metadata, not a transcript. Catalog dates may refer to a release or collection rather than the event itself.