The Manned Spacecraft Center presented the proposal to NASA Headquarters that the ground light visibility experiment of the Schirra flight (MA-8) be repeated for the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) mission.

Objectives were to determine the capability of an astronaut visually to aquire a ground light of known intensity while in orbit and to evaluate the visibility of the light as seen from the spacecraft at varying distances from the light source. Possibly at some later date such lights could be used as a signal to provide spacecraft of advanced programs with an earth reference point. This experiment was integrated as a part of the MA-9 mission.