Image of the Day
(http://bruce.org.uk/images/aurora.jpg)
Scott Carpenter's Aurora 7 journey to outer space was the first space flight whose focus during Carpenter's five-hour mission was on science.
The full flight plan included the first study of liquids in weightlessness, Earth photography and (believe it or not...!), an unsuccessful attempt to observe a flare fired from the ground. Yes, you read that correctly.
(http://bruce.org.uk/images/scottcarpenter.jpg)
At dawn of the third and final orbit, Carpenter inadvertently bumped his hand against the inside wall of the cabin and solved a mystery from the previous flight. The resulting bright shower of particles outside the spacecraft - what John Glenn had called "fireflies" - turned out to be ice particles shaken loose from the spacecraft's exterior.