NASA-UAP-D013, Mercury Atlas 7, May 24, 1962

Low Earth Orbit·5/24/62

Declassified

Government description

During the fourth crewed spaceflight and second orbital flight of Project Mercury, Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7), Aurora 7 pilot Scott Carpenter describes white particles in view that appear to move at “random” and “look exactly like snowflakes.” He describes these phenomena as reflective, and that some seemed to move faster than the Aurora 7 spacecraft.

Caption issued by the U.S. Department of War on war.gov/ufo. Verbatim, unedited.

Originating agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Record type

AUD

Incident date

5/24/62

Incident location

Low Earth Orbit

Release tranche

Release 02 (May 8, 2026)

Distribution

Cleared for public release

PURSUE = Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. Records released by the U.S. Department of War on May 8, 2026 are unresolved cases for which the government cannot make a definitive determination, and the Department has invited private-sector analysis.