By Science News Staff

Web edition: April 6, 2012
Print edition: April 21, 2012; Vol.181 #8 (p. 4)

GLENN REPORTS ON FLIGHT — The brilliant light from the “fireball” Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. saw passing the window of his space capsule was observed by more than 1,400 scientists at a symposium in Washington, D.C. A color film, showing the astronaut in his cabin during flight, clearly revealed reflections of the burning chunks of retro-pack flying off the space capsule’s heatshield. The astronaut’s silvery suit, his face, and instruments around him in the cabin were “washed over” with a bright orange glow every time a chunk went past the window.