John Glenn's Fireflies
As Friendship 7 came out of the night side of its orbit, John Glenn reported thousands of tiny, luminous particles drifting around the capsule. He called them fireflies and told Mission Control he had never seen anything like it. The sighting fed early speculation about life in space. Three months later, astronaut Scott Carpenter bumped the inside wall of his Aurora 7 capsule and set off the same shower of glowing flecks.
The ledger
What the record shows, what people say, and the best explanation available so far.
What's documented
- Glenn's description is in the mission's air-to-ground transcript.
- Carpenter reproduced the effect on Aurora 7 in May 1962 by striking the capsule wall.
What's claimed
- Living organisms or something unknown in orbit.
Best explanation so far
Frost and ice flakes breaking off the capsule's outer surface and catching the sunrise. Carpenter called them 'frostflies.'
Check the sources
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