Subscribe
Approximately one hour and 41 minutes into the final and longest flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 9 mission (MA-9) Faith 7 Pilot L. Gordon Cooper Jr. notes that he sees “John’s fireflies,” referring to John Glenn’s term from the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. NASA later determined that the “fireflies” are attributable to frozen condensation separating from the spacecraft body. The white, green-hued appearance of this phenomenon results from sunlight reflecting off frozen condensation.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.1963 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2026 07:30 |
| Category: | Briefings |
| Video ID: | 1007874 |
| VIRIN: | 630515-D-D0360-4757 |
| Filename: | DOD_111721711 |
| Length: | 00:03:00 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Downloads: | 3 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 3 |
This work, NASA-UAP-D010, Mercury Atlas 9 Audio Excerpt, May 15, 1963, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
