[chris]

This audio recording is from Mercury-Atlas 7 (MA-7), Aurora 7, on May 24, 1962, during Project Mercury's fourth crewed spaceflight and second orbital flight. Aurora 7 pilot Scott Carpenter describes white particles in view, moving unpredictably and resembling snowflakes. He describes them as reflective, with some seeming to move faster than the Aurora 7 spacecraft.

From the recording, at 0:00:

I have The more of the white particles in view below the capsule. They appear to be traveling exactly my speed. There is one drifting off. Uh, it's going faster than I am, as a matter of fact. Roger, I understand. I haven't seen the great numbers of these particles, but I've seen. A few of them. Their motion is random. They look exactly like snowflakes to me.

Declassified by the Department of War under the PURSUE UAP records release (tranche of 5/22/26).
Agency: NASA
Incident: 5/24/62, Low Earth Orbit
Document ID: NASA-UAP-D013
Recording length: 1 minute 49 seconds.
Photograph: NASA, CARPENTER, M. SCOTT ASTRONAUT - MERCURY-ATLAS (MA)-7 - AURORA 7 - INSERTION, 1962-05-24 (NASA ID s62-04018).