Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

sossess B Little bit, my skin waswt and it didn't stick the way it had stuck when we tried it out im the trainer and in the capsule on the pad end I finally gave up on it and just kept one eye shut. This is marginally satisfactory, I guess, but I was not well nighted after coming up to the first night. There's @ redundancy here but you sure do have the right information or cases so a | few of these will be repeats. How lets start out with the conditions of dark adaptation. ) Well, most of these things that we had planned to look into if we could on Astronomy sort of vent by the boards I apologize to the people at the Cape tit wo éida"s get api mows (Gene Kies ve hed gleneed to dn’tat a0 I think most of you are aware, at the end of the first orbit we start, having some difficulty with control systen fa {from then on it was pretty mch eystens monitoring with some locking around outside and that was it. So a lot of the ee ere eee ee eee eee ee back just had to go down the drain, but becoming night adapted--the first time around I did get the eye patch out that we had gad ithis was not © very satisfactory eye patch. I was going to try to use it over one eye so that Ii was sweating a little bit, my akin wae wet, it didn't stick the way it had stuck when we tried it out in the treiner and in the capsule on the pad, gid I finally gave up on it and just kept one eye shat. This is marginally satisfactary I guess but I was not well night adapted Coming up to the first night. What it boils dowm to is that my dark adaptation vas just @ result of the sun going down and mms normal dark adaptation fron being on red light and dim light which takes some 10 to 15 minutes to get any # | 2 Seen, OF as Fe T could notioe « difference in the mumnere of ota Sakalh ext teak pibaladiialanlts bill Waid ag cian hak when I'@ be well night adapted [at the end of the period This is some BM 37 mimutes later when you're approaching sunrise so you'd have @ -- I suppose Sneek sa SUGAR: sainaia Vaid ibe seiilkieg “sans eden ak Gok @ half hour, 33 minutes, something of thet order. Did you have on opportunity to count the stars? No, this is one of those things that went Gow the drain. I thought about this on a subsequent orbit but I didn't spend any time on it. I feel that my vision, the mmbers of stars I could see was not appreciably increased. How, I had expected to see a lot more stars. I hed thought they'd really = dump out once you got above the atmosphere but I--like it was in debriefing - I think £6 the being out on the desert on = dark night in sumer when the air is very clear and dry, sx@ You know what it is Like out around Reno and sone of those places; how the sky really comes out si night end you can/sce million stars. ga thats what it locked Like. It @idn't look like any more then that. This was a general impression but not enything you can put ymef your finger on? Thats right. You had planned at the end of the second and third orbits--during the second ané third orbits to rum the star counts and ve hed the areas lined up WO-RI-AN, GAS-I-0-PIA, and vhat was the other one--it was off a little triangle area by SERIOUS off O-RI-AN. We had those three areas lined up and it was just--I was doing systems monitoring at that time rather then counting 3 sters. But a general impression of looking cut at these areas was that the muibers of eters I could see vas not greatly increased. You mention the tranamission through the glass be comparable ... to the atmosphere. That's something you people can check.” would not see too many more stars becuse the trenmmission of light through the window is cut dowm by 27 per cent or something like that. The figure that they came up with was almost identical to what people have computed the atmospheric attenuation of light is. So they felt that when we got above the atmosphere it would probably be about the same looking through the window as it te locking through the atmosphere here, and I think they were just about right. It locked to be about the sane to me. I think it might be wise for you to read the next 3 or 4 paragraphs. I think a lot of these are going to be real quick enewers, so why don't u you get to it. ‘Did you see Magellanic Clouds? No. Andromeda Nebula? No. How muh MM Tremendously. We hed moon out--almost full moon. ‘You can look at this 8 da ways, US 20 wan 6 teemnatoentd Cansteattags tr 14 was 0 trenentons edventege. I prefer to think it was em advantage because it did provide a visual capsbility on the ¢clouds--on the dark side which was sufficient that sor I could use it for a EAR reference where it might have been questionable whether I could do that otherwise. b — Was this bothered or being bothered by moonlight on the windows or was the sky actually bright? No. The sky was not bright. I didn't notice the sky being bright at all nor was it moonlight bothering on the window of the capsule. It was moonlight on the surface of the earth back from the clounds when I locked down that etvehies < uakh ine. too Sans, Yes, Dut I heard you say that the moonlight very definitely did bother your ability to see faint areas. i'm trying to find out in what way. Well I don't-~perhaps thet was a misstatement. I don't think it really 4 hurt on seeing fainters I don't believe. I was thinking of the more complete night adaptation we would have without any moonlight at all. This is so slight you couldn't--I doubt if you could pinpoint BM@UNMy differences. What about daytime stars? Daytime stars I couldn't--if I was going along and looking down at the horizon, the area behind the capsule and would look up, I couldn't see any et all. But when we had the smell end of the capsule up above the horizon and over to the right where it was shaded from the gun, then if I stayed in that position for, oh, anything over a minute, I guess, then I could see the brighter stars start coming out. I never remained in that position long SGD MRM enough to become night adapted where I could identify constellations or pick out @ecific stars but I wanted to see whether we could pick up stars on the daylight side and you could after about I guess & minute adaptation. Perhaps we had better move on then to the question of stars very near the moon. > This didn't seen to be any problem. Looking up fairly close to the moon, ’ I would guess a--counting a mumber degrees probably, you could see right up to the edge of the moon. The stars would be vicible right up--very close, ite not Like it ie when-|you bre Mo woe Sun Se real aerlau ] Pabiy faint stars? Yes, I think so, just like the other--the whole field of stars you're locking at, you came up end--the only way, when you swing the capsule around and you'd be approaching ZHAX area where the moon was, you could tell it beeause there would be moonlight coming in the window and you would see the light moving across on the capsule. TMM Thats the only way you would know that you're really coming close to the moom. You didn't know 4t by the sky getting & real light ea you come to the moon like you do here. There was 4 a little area sround it where this was true. It wasn't just/comlete cutoff, but 1t was nothing like the buildup we have here where you are looking through Any Comets? No. Ho comets. I used the first mmect. I had this little poloroid filter out were were going to use so that we could lock directly at the sun. This, while I think of it, this was another thing that was rether surprising to me. The sun is not as blinding as I thought it would be. I told the people in debriefing down there after experimenting very carefully with this a Little bit, I looked directly at the sun with the naked eye just as you would ao here. You've locked up and squinted so that you have really shielded your uiyen sok Reith eniuatag kth Gta Mittin Mibide 0b Sank tential. And 6 this was very similar. You do the same thing there and I had mo~-there was no problem with the eyes. The light though, it was very noticable. The light was a very brilliant clear, white light and what 1+ looked like coming in the window and the vay it looked on the suit-<the best thing I could relate it to were the are lights, the brilliant search light are lights thet they have down at the Cape that are out on theped at might. Its that type brilliant white light coming in-<very bright. And it was warm enough that I remember commenting, I put it om the tape I believe at one time that riding along the sun was coming in end it wes over on my right am and I commented about my right arm getting appreciably warmer then the left when the sun was on it. It was e very intense light tut as it came in the window and was on your er here thats just what it looked Like. It looked like being on the ped at night with these real bright search lights on. Same type light, it waan't eny of the ormnge~ish yellowish light. ovse(Tummdibhe)..+.-se0+. in sive from the UV? Oh, yes. This is the difference. Any unanticipated eiestial features? The conets I--to get back to comehs here a minute--I guess we didn’t completely cover that one. See any comets? Mo. Not at all. When the eum goes down its a--well this wae a very brilliant brillient thing and the light was spread out guch more in a much broader band out toward the horizons than i bed anticipated. I hed thought~-I don't know why, mo one had ever briefed me on this particularly--I thought the eum dow. It would be a little bit of light right on the .... end bang, thats it. There are nothing but stars 7 from there on. Thats whet I was prepared to see, I guess, but this wasn't the wey it weg at all. The gun goes down end ite o brillient displey. ‘Theres ali the spectraa lined up here almost. Just as the sun goes down~--well before the show on the pictures that I tock too and I'm sorry we don’t have those fhere te brief you with those but you'll see those later where starting with the sun down on the horizon there ao great band that runs way out here maybe I think I estimated sane 45 to 60 degrees on each side of the sun, way out. And it gradually gak goes down to @ point out here like that. Starting from a very bright white bend close to the earth end going out te e point out here ond the other bands of light going from, oh, yellowish and orange color on up inte the blues as you get off toward the bleck of apace. Just as the gan sets that Last little sliver of light where I was looking for the green flesh thet everyone has been locking for, that I hed been briefed on, just as I'm watehing for that, just as the gun gets dow: on the horimon, why it joins this long sliver. So you don't actually see that last little sliver of sun. It goes down, you can tell when it goes down but ite not a clear bali just going below the horizon like that. Its out in this broad sliver that goes out toward the horizon. This bend is priaerily 4 horizon phenomena. It doesn't run PSMA perpendicular wise? fo. ite in the stuosphere. Very definitely. Ite shows it quite well on that photograph there. i eeelenet i eaeatieeemiein eat ioeiee ad The zodiacal light I locked for and I never was night adapted enough to see it. Seler Corona? 8 Soler Corona. Noe. This--once again I think te obsefve these things properly we ere going to have to be night adapted before we get there ond thats whet we lost by having other complications on the second To get back to the unanticipated celestial features. Well, unanticipated celestial features--the little light spots, lusinous spots that I saw--I don't think these are celestial features. I don't know what they ere. Can we get beck to that later? 3 Uh buh. o dadies wieelhbicaaaatanioeeeed! ‘wbéitens dk ti ois with eniaees ie tht en sunset lasted--the lightness much longer than I had anticipated. This went on for some 4 oy 5 minutes that you could still see bright bends and tie then they would gradually go to a more dim condition but this oceurred--this was over some quite DMEQER lengtiny period of time-<ebout 5 minutes. I had expected the light to just go down very shortly after sunset. But it didn't, it was quite brillient, quite bright for @ long period of time. Would you concentrate on » Et would be a concentration ever the horizon but were there many No. Another unanticipated celestial thing at fmight though was this cloud that I deseribed, the haze layer or whatever it is. I notice this at firet because as the stars were coming down toward the horizon they move rather rapidly down toward the horizon et first. I was watehing one particular star end 1t got rather dim and I thought well ite going behind the horizon and then it got brighter egain as it came Gown closer to the horizon and then went out of sight. Weil. Wines ven X Reckhe Weey carefully X such eea/tbanmn 0 tent Wah wes some--I think we estimated about 6 to 5 degrees above the horizon and wes 9 probably a degree and a half to two degrees wide and it was quite visible onee you start looking for it. Tt SARYAIOX seemed to go out and teper out. Ho, it didn't taper as much as the light at the horizon aid during sunset. it was more of a solid type Im band. It locked Like the color of it would be sort of a buff--look like a buff light eolor--I don't know, something Like this rather than a pure white, be sort of an off color, just not a pure white. (Question by Dr. Roman inaudible) Ho. All these things you see are things that we bed plemed to use at first orbit, mmkix mainly just hold position, get all the redar Gata, ali the tracking, monitor systems closely and thats what we were doing and then we flew the first orbit then we were going to broaden this out a little bit on the second and third orbit end thats mm where we got trapped because the second and third orbit kept right on doing what we were doing on the first orbit. We over time in Astronomy. Lets try to finish up real fast end come back Any Bizast planets? Yes. Venus, I believe it was--I identified it on the tape, on the chart. Wasn't it Venus that went down just above the that particular day. the Vemus was very visible imned@iately after/Z@i sunset. The sun would go down. Just as quick as the last light was gone I could see that very clearly. in fact I believe on the tape I identified that before the sunset. I could see up that close to it. (Statement by Dr. Roman, inaudible) That will come up on the star chart that day. Yes, and we had then all plotted where they should be. You may be right. I'LL have to check the chart on that. Venus end Mercury bad been right--closer. We had then 16 identified by the previous shot. I think maybe this one Mercury. Lee shan cheek the chart on it. See any stars t Zo@ieal light. Wo. Solar Corona. Mo. I was not well enough adapted patterns along that line. Shedow of earth of sky? Ro. To photograph the Orion region, it looked about the same as it does from the ground. This area in the center of the Orion that I was trying to use as @ terget area, the center ster in the belt--we got several pictures of thet. These were taken with different drift rates on the capsule. We tried to press the capsule on manual control and get it right on very accurately and im then use the camera but there was still some drift in the capsule et that time and I had to keep for it. This is not o steble a platform es you would lime for this type photography. Made exposures of about 15 to 19 seconds. I was counting off the seconds ayeelf without explosion. Thete about it. I been interested though to see whether those came out. I did see some prints and I don't know enough shout evaluating those prints te know whet we got. (Question inaudible) Well, we discussed this during debriefing some, I think we must have had PRE oe ny thrusters that weren't cutting off absolutely clean, that would add just a bair of thrust in one axis or another at a time because I would have the rates tero-ed completely and be sitting right on the spot-ieh ee rate of magno control inputs and you'd shart a little drift Summ very slow. Probably the rift rates wont out over a quarter of a degree per second during the time that I was trying to make the pictures. But thate enough if you aritt off and you have to correct back the line you drift off a line correct back lime, you do this for 15 or 20 seconds, its rether e crude way to take pictures. fQuestion inaugibie) Yes. Hand held and hed it up against the visor to steadiness and turn it very glowly. We had the loose site on the top¢ of it. A loose site with @ cross hair end so that I could keep that right on the--lined wp on the stars. It will be interesting to see if we came out with anything on that. Make any other comments about our No. Zt looks about like it does on the desert on @ bright summerf night. H Twilight. Did the twilight bother you at all? Can you tell us anything about that. You mean the light I described wx after sunset? (Statement by Dr. Roman, inaudible) The only time twilight bothered either way was when you because sunrise is the--the early pickup sunrise coming up is in the scope facing backwards, of course, to the direction of motion and you see the sun come up and this would--thisQiiSiieiaam twilight, you watch it incresing in the scope, meanwhile we're holding imumal control most of the time and this was very Gifficult. For some reasons, this was more difficult to held accurate control on the periscope at sumrise that it was to look back out the window and hold 12 it visually or on inetrument. And since we were having automatic control trouble presentation on the attitude, I was trying to maintain control looking back out the window and to check back and forth between the very brilliant end bright light coming in at mmrise through the scope and look back out inte the dark again, I finally just put filter over the scope and go back to locking out et the stare and whet I w could see on the clouds-- moonlight coming off of them dhe and that seemed to be easier to hold the position. The moon look any different to you? lio. Not appreciably. It was brighter--s lot brighter. Just very clear. Once again, clearer than 1% is around here, brighter then it is around here. SHS Once again, out om the desert on a real clear night, its very similar. Lets push on to the earth questions on your next page, Jom. You said Ho. Gay, haze and airglow band at night? Yes, I Gi@ try the aizglow band at night end I could sce nothing. This may have been the lack of night adaptation--I don't know. I wasn't too concerned about the night edapting so perfectly to that. I trieé the sirglow particularly on the storm areas over the Indien Ocean. There was a very iexge storm there to the North, of course, and a sualler one to the South of eourse, over about the first third of the Indien Ocean. We had wondered if we could gee lightening from above an@ lightening from above is very, very visible. Theres no problem at all on that. You can see the fleshee-~you don't see individual flashes like you see a lightening bolt hit the ground here 13 but you see ea whole thunderhead Light up and and another one would Rigiiougamam: light up over here and tkere would be some Light go back an@ forth from here like this very horizontally. And then you would see another one light up and there wes @ 22% lot of tiomderstormm activity particulerly in the storm that was to the north, of course. A little legs to the one south but the Lightening was very visible. Pretty mich the same thing you see frem a high flying jet, isn't 1+? Yes. You're a little farther away, of course. Ite similer to that If you've been up above the--4i0 or 50,000 feet Sem at night and there is some little low thunderheads vhere you have the-«maybe some of the flashing @ little bit down at low altitudes, it would be a similar type thing. You're just farther away from it but there's to problem at atuxmkipeem: all seeing flieshes. It was on that area to the North, of course, in particular that I tried to use this airglow filter for e period of time but I didn't get any pattern out of it at all. This may bave been my lack of night adaptation. At twilight did you see the shadow of the earth on the atmosphere? Ho. Last of these. Can you describe how the atmosphere changed during the twilight process? You've already gone over this, if there's nothing you can add-. Well, I think thet about describes it. One thing I was surprésed at were the during the twilight period that might be of some interest wttk little they were discontinuities in it but I think memctite just weather build-ups and high I clouds off om the horizon. & though the horizon would be extremely even and 14 that the weather would be so that you wouldn't see any of this but you could see little bumps along in the twilight glow after the sunset end this shows up in some of our pictures. & You can see these little bumps along. Do you have copies of those up here? Not up here. I saw some that were first rum yesterday dowm st the Cape. We had a first look at these out at Grand Turk. I think the copies wo got were not the best in the West. They seem to be a little rough. They had @ lot of specs on them and I'm looking forward to getting beck down there and going over them again. But you could see some of these. You could see a little bump out here, there would be a@ little discontinuity. Bo. They were in the lower part of the light bend so I assume that they were weether build-ups. Wheat 4id you estimate the height of the atmosphere to be under daytime conditions? In fact, this angle of the horizon business? Well, estimates on the angle, saying thet this was some 6 to 8 dearees wide, up te this layer for instance was about 6 to 5 degrees wide and 1t wes maybe @ degree and a makg half or two degrees think. This sort of an estimate of the size of the over here. We're about 30 degrees in the window our angle we ean 2k lock out and a little less am than = quarter, maybe a fifth of this business of--say if you estimate about 6 degrees. When I say &@ 6 to 8 degrees this is not an accurate protractor type measurement. Could you use e spacecraft as a protractor? Well I used the window, just the window area horizon up to the top of the atmosphere? steseererscesereceenss Pond it off fron the autopilot? 15 You might be able to try this. I @idn’t try it that way. You might be able to, holding your headiita fix you might be sable to do something Like that. ‘This would be fetrly accurate. ‘his would put it down, I think, where you could pick it off within a--our gradations on that attitude control systen are fairly fine--about, I guess, three sixteenths of an inch is 10 degrees bat you g could pick it off to within a degree and a half or 2 degrees vith pretty fair accuracy. / ZI metice in some of the pictures there is a f image of the sun @bout 10 Gegrees fron the primary laage apparently due to the 2 thicknesses of glass. Yes. I think thate what it was from. I don't recall seeing any of those at all. I notice them in the sane pictures and there was enocther phenomena them in the pictures you may have moticed. In quite ea mmber of Se--I think Bob noticed it first before I hai--up above the horizon some 15 or 20 degrees there appeared to be a green band go acrovs that perellel the earth's surface. Did you notice that in thepictures? And this was in quite a mmber of then. and I never saw any bend like that at ali. I don't know whether it wes actually there and just ehowed up on the fils and I just didm’t gee it or couldn't gee it or whether it wes alwaye when the sun was et « particular eres out here and it was just a certain reflection off the window or reflection off the lens of the camera but I think we should probably take those pictures and try to analyse vhat engle the sun wes to them as well as we possible can. I think Jomn is doing that right now. Ie he? Because this green band is @ new one on me. I never saw that until we got the pictures and I imagine ite just a reflection on the XX Lens. 16 through the window like 2 suns or satellite......? Did. you. see.any miltiple inages./... (question partially inaudible.........%% No, no. Could I @ question here on the surface? Go ahead. < notice on the picture here and aleo the comet the description of the en the horizon in the daytime. eround thehorizon near the sun.. Was thie a uniform thing No. It comes out even in broad dayhight. It seems to go out to a little more of a pointed area out--way out the horizon if you leaned over and Look out the wimisevindow way out toward the North, for iustance. This would not be o& broad @ band as it appeared to be when we're w locking back directly on the flight path, for instance. : It does appear to exist 350 degrees? Oh yes. Were there any apprecieble irregularities in it or was it completely smooth! Smooth. These are very~~there are fuzzy edges. You don't run up like you see On the spectrum to this color and to that color. They ell fade into each other like a rainbow but its a--there are no stuetum discontinuities where e yellow band was more thick than a blue band here or something like that. They ell just ran out even. Ave you referring now te the sunset phenomena? That tae then too. I was speaking primerily just during broad daylight. Do you get different colors in broed daylight other than the biues? dust the Blues end whites during broad daylight. Yes. 17 You notice any--very maryclouds or any peculiar cloud formation? Yes. We got quite @ mumber of cloud pie pictures and you om pick out the relative types of clouds. We did wonder whether you could teil vertical clouds from SER-06 clouds. You can tell what clouds are vertical development and you get a three dimensional effect. Looking eat them you can tell that some are higher than others. aie ehaik ium thdblk oak tilhis thet snide. s6 aire intonaine particular noteworthy that you might have seen that the pictures might not show? I don't think so other than the things we have mentioned here. (Question, inaudible) is what Now? Does your window produce any pam polorization? We have a real limited degree of polorization in the window. How many do you have in E form? I will make a note on that one and check the exact polorization of it. We had-~~thie was checked at the time that we ran sone star studies in St. Sects duh & tiie an wats da The reason I asked The exact figure on that I can't give you. Did you pass over any snow propagations, mountains ? lo. I could see out in the West looking way up North from the area right over--Well the South of San Diego at the end of the second orbit. ‘There was 80 such cloud cover up to the North that I coulén’t be real pambikkx positive. 18 It ran up and locked like it ren off the edge of a « Then there were some white areas way up to the North and I imagine these were probably snow fields. I thought at the time they probably were but I couldn't be sure. I didn't specifically go over any erea where I could look right dow at this cloud end that snow. I was surppised at my--and another thing, as fax as the weather goes, end that is whet e tremendous area of the earth Se divtiiek te tlinthe Unk -teer i don't know whether we're going to find that this is customary not. Bat I was surprised. I had very little view oF lank, begun Yeo. The intertropical _ } . We bad been briefed on that and, of course, thet tock care of things all the way across the Pacific. There was cloud cover all the way atross there. There wae cloud cover over all Eastern Afries. I never saw the Leke Chad area that I was looking for: Zt wes covered. The only part of Africa we really got e good lock at was Western Africa in the desert regions. You could sce the big = dust mxk storms blowing and these were very visible. I commented on it end Kenya came back and asid yes that they had been having these dust storms for shout a week. Tremendous blowing clouds of dust that obscured large--very large areas of the ground. Coming across the states end, this whole area across WI-HAS and Northern Mexico, Southern California and that eres, had very large cloud Leeks on high Wane ital Dieieiiak caaeie ten inne: There were some breaks in it and you could see through momentarily. What color were the dust clouds? They just looked like dust. SGrownish. SMM Just lecked Like « dust storm you've seen out on the = desert. Geme color. The colors from shove lLocked-- 19 I could see no difference in flying in an sirplane at 50,000 feet and lodking down end seeing colors on the ground the there is from the capsule. siabtiteatcedh: ten: todo’ Sint: Did you have en opportunity to try closing your eyes and seeing the Sorenoff Radiation flashes? Seeing whet? Radiation fleshes from energetic particles fastened to your eyebalis. Is thet another . Wirst time I heard of it. What do you call this again now? Sorenkoff Rediation by © good Russien frie&d of that name. Golly, tha missed that one on briefing. (statement, = insudible) When a coamic ray passes through a material in which the--tts velocity exceeds the velocity of light in the mediwa you have this radiation given out- Sorenkeff Radiation and John Winckler of Minnesota thought that you might be able to observe this if you shut your eyes when the heavies came through. (statement, ineudibie)...... Ave these suppose to be very viaible, very bright or just-- No one knows because they never get dow to the earth's surface. They would have been in the g blue light. We €idn"t vide around for any period of time vith the eyes closed. There was gh enough going on that--this eye patch, we had that. That was intentionally done, not to two eyes, just to one so that you'd still monitor everything that j] '] : } n wes going on. So T aid wot ride aroat witn the eyes_cLu/eny pyruerd o/c" Alright, Lets get to the lusinous particles. Back to page 1. 20 Thats a good one. That sure is. Were they all traveling in the same direction and the same velocity? Yes. They all just appeared to be um sitting out here floating and they particular didu't have any interaction with each other. They vwere~- some went running this way end some that way. They all appeared just to be stetie in their field. ¢ is plane to ee. The only ones that appeared to move were the ones that seemed to have a little flow (OY (caaiiciguage tak tha olge of the eapedle ant Lt would Geitt off Like thie and it would just more or 2mm take its place A . If this had been gu just & flash, just « momentarily thing, I don’t know, it would tave been-~I don’t know what I would have //, on one like that. observed observe I sat there and where this thing just as carefully as I could zim it for some 3 to 5 minutes at three different periods. The lights were not very dim little lights as though reflections from something. They vere every bit nis eb Misch bit teanie eis Atak MERMMIOD GAG wn pets, Sanite-oniiowe hab. And you've seen fireflies out in the meadow or when they just stand out like very, very bright stars. They were as least as bright as the brightest fireflies you've ever seen in a situation like that and the light was very steaay and they were about the seme color as fireflies. This vas a luminous yellow-green or green~yellow coler. I'd say it was almost an identical to e firefly and they were just as far at that particularmis time. I would look out the window this 2 way and there just seemed to be no end to them out here, no end back this way, no end on this side, up or Gown in particular . (Question, inaudible)...... Yes. 20 The density looking perpendicular to your path is about equal to that I hed 2 things come in mind. One was, I thought we founds the lost 35% Air Force needles, that waa was the first thing. But they weren't-- wasn't like that et all. ‘The other thing, I thought perhaps we were getting freezing of the water coming cut of the capsule and we were having snow, something like thet. In fact, later on they called me from the ground and aatked if I thought that that is what it was. But it wasn't thet type thing eat all. ft didn’t appear to be eminating from the capsule. The particles were not closer together~--closer to the capsule than they appeared to be further away. The average distance of the particles apart was probebiy-- i estimated I think some 6 to 10 feet, in that neighborhood. Cecasionally one would be right in the shadow of the capsule and would drift up pess the Window end it looked rather white Like a wee tiny little piece of cotton or @ little--it looked like a little enow flake. Some little piece of thing like that. These white suk ones that I saw come up by like that I assume were the same things as the others out here becaise I never saw anything else outside of the window. Did you ever see the sae one go into the shadow and come back out? Well, I was asked that before and I--ny initial answer to it was yes and then I couldn't recall any real specific instance where I watched one go from lumiuousity to white and back to luminous again. Go I can't say posivively I did on that. I think they did but I don't went to make « positive siutwatex statement. 2 they were simply white like snow? Thats right, thats right. They were very Liminous. When the first rays of the sun would come--when the first rays of the sun came by the capsule is when I°6 Gee the first ones amd this persisted then some--oh, 5 minutes. (Lengthy question, inaudible)......7 Tt could be. I won't sgit was. I won't sey it wasn't. T don't know how you ¢ould have much depth perception but do you have eny ides about how fer away the fartherest ones were? Ro. i couldn't estimate how far away they were but you had a very definite feeling of depth perception through them, mainly, I think by looking out to the side out here. And if you hed « lot or particles hanging out here and you move through them see = the ones move as you move them them and the near ones move right within. Ones fer out move very slowly so this gives you a sense of depth. 4nd I think that the way I perceived most of that. You say they’re all moving in the sane direction? Thats right. Pn Did any move faster than others? They didn't appear to. They all appear to be hanging mxpez except for the ones that seemed to come up around the capsule in this flow condition. (Question, partially ineudible) Did that flow look anything Like Yes, Thats what we talked about. It id. The few particles that came by Was just like a almost. 2la Sex (Statement, partially inaudible) eavencing @ new theory that this might very well be some full luminescence of areas around the capsule we talked ebout this A night and day change » Whether theres enything of this kind recombination back in the shadow of the capsule - Five miles an hour motions ; area of capsule speed and so on. I+ certainly seem-~it seem to be mumm connection with the capsule in some way and not with something coming from outer space. < estimated 3 to 5 miles an hour differential speed and I--1t wasn't Over five miles en hour., thets definitely on the high side if we get up to that. They were just very slowly drifting by. ‘They gradually start a@isappearing as the sun come up and we got up at more of an angle they gradually start disappearing. And I couldn't gee anything. Did you see them before the sun rose? No. Did you look for them before that? Yes. ‘The second time around I was watching for these things. But you 414 see them as soom as the sun rose? The very first light of the sun--the very first rays of the sun than up, you could see the first ones appear just Like that when the sun came up. (Question, ineudible.....? Yes. Do you have an impression of the shape, the structure of the individual particles. 22 lio. These one that would come fairly clest to the capsule I could see. Thats where I estimated they were just a very tiny size up to maybe 3/8 of en inch or half an inch. Would you characterize them as sort of irregular Like cornflakes, like crystal, like snowflskes? They didn't appear to have any oblong pattern to them or any particular circular pattern. lo real semetry at all. Were they flat like snow flakes? These little white things which I ~ think were the seme items were right up close to the window in the shade looked @ lot like little snow flekes. Would you say they were speherical or ? I think more like sort of a sphere. any distance at all end thentex they were Luminous and the sum was on them and there was no shugamim shape to-- just like looking at a firefly light. That's the nearest thing I can come--t keep coming back to because that’s just what they looked like. (Question, Inaudible).....7 So. Ho. There was no on and off again type thing at all. ‘This was encther thing thet going back to the stars it was noticable too as we had expected there wans't any of the--I didn't notice any particular amount of twinkling of the stars, not like they do down here. bid MZ you see any of these particles move ? No. Its just like you have « big static field like you have gone out here with strings end placed then in this room and if you cane back and through that deor and back to way across the room that just what they looked like going by. It just wasn't-- 23 They a1) went by in the direction of That's right. Wow, I turned around once so I could see if they were coming toward me. I got around facing toward the mumghighg sunlight. As I com around and the sunlight was off to my right I could see far fewer of them at that time than I could see when I was & facing backwards. This would be on the side may from the sun is & where I could see most ef them. But they--the ones out here were atill coming towards me. How this ie--I want to check and see if these were eminating from the capsule. They were not. They were still coming toward me frou out there so they couldn't heve been eminagting from the capsule. From the @ireetion toward mk which you were moving. That's right. How close Six to ten feet apart. (Question, partiallyinendible) .......you sald you sav it 3 times. Did yout This was approximately the Samids.cssscccccnesecocessest Well, this was right at each sunrise. Now this wasmother thing we talked about. Bill Douglass, I think, fee felt that there might be some possibility if the earth does have its own band around the equator, juct as some of the Planets do, that perhaps were were at the edge of @ little band like that that wes appearing each time we came up past the equator on the dark side sacl 8% ‘Shak ete bu uciabeaa tek Vas Winans aaah hak. We entered at sunrise each time. We don't have the data--I haven't checked beck here to get the data on that yet as to whether this was always right at the equatorial regionM that we ren into. (Question, inaudible)....? Right at the first light of sumrise there was a-<-no other time. I epecifically looked for them at sunset. As the last light of the sun went ewny I thought we might see them there. I didn't. This was always at sunrise. Now, this difference may be that I was more night adepted at gumrise. Maybe they were there all the way around. (Question, ineud@ible).....? We're running short of time here. Let me get through a couple of these right quickly. Whats the longest time you require watching any individual particle? Gh, I can't answer that as to the length of time I specifially wetched one particular perticle but they wore not blinking on and off or anything like that. cs) Did you have the ispression they would be there if you ss? they were about 6 to 7 feet apart. ‘The window is only a certain size_- . (Statement, inaudible) Weli, I had the impression I could have sat--I could have been sitting there and watch one particle for some distence as it went on back maybe for @ minute or so. When they were in the shadows of the spacecraft, dia they appear to vary any. in brightness 7 Ho. ‘They weren't lusttnous when they were im the shadows. I can't Specifically sey. I watened 5 particles from o luminous condition to in the shadows non-luminous end back to mm a luminous condition. (8% Question, ineudible)...? Gh, yes. I think this is very probable. I could have seen it farther than thet. They were bright. If you were night edapted and you can see a very bright firefly from a considerable distence and tits was a-- When you saw this the second and third time around 41a you have the feeling thet there were any more of less than there was the first time? Ro. We talkeé ebout that too and I think it was the seme type. I don't think the density of it was any different. Completely snowed. The first time I saw these I looked down injo the--I checked sone system@--had been looking outeide the the cockpit and made a check a check as I was doing ali the time and had had my head in the cockpit for some Littie period of tine and glanced back up at the window. I had been doing this just 26 as I could start to begin to see some faint light dow below and I glanced back up ut the window and ay first impression ves, maxk well we've gotten way out of attitude and probably come to the because here it was just like locking’out on a complete star field, there wes no other reference at all end looking beckvard tovard this dark avea what bad happened, instead of the even horigon back here that|I had had with the stars up sbove and the darker eres dow below. Mow in this dark area down below too were g@ll these other lights pinpointed in. They just looked, at first glance, like e continuation of the whole star field down inte that ares. I thought we had drifted up and here I em looking at nothing but eo sterfield and how aid I ever get into this creuy attitude. I checked iustruments egein and checked the periscope agath end I hain't drifted. I was still in the sane attitude I was in except this.big darker area here that had been the earth back behind it that I had been locking et was wow filled up with el) these dots as the first light of the sum surfaced. How long after the sunrise di¢ you observe same of these in the shadows of the spacecraft? Was it almost immediately or towards the end of tim this period? Oh, I don't think there any difference on that as fer as when they woulé @rift up into thet. ‘This could well have been occurring just as well when I first cease into thes as they could at the end of the time. I didn't have ony iapression that there was more metiek drift by the capsule at one time then another or more flow around the capsule that pulled them in past the Wingow at one time or enother. You con't see them on the film? No. The ones we had out there at Grand Turk I couldn't very--we had to many Seretches end spots on those pictures that I couldn't really pinpoint then. But when we get hold of the original pictures and can project those, I hope that we can see more, I damft don't know. Those reproductions we had out there were not very satisfactory. I hope the originals are better then thet. Did you see the originals? Ave they clear? I sev prints which I think Started to develop. They seen fatriy clear. Did you see any of these epote on then? Did you have the film? Did you look at the flin? i did not look at the film directly. Bat it not the sort of picture you bad in Grand Turk. You hed a really gual clear print that @eme day. | Thats right. And the way they looked they were pretty : They weren't the best job I ever caw. I'm afraid I don’t know waht to tell you except that. i wish I could be more helpful. All I can say is we observed it ané it was very clear and distinct. it wasn't a reflection from anything. It was very positive. We observed it @ long period of ‘time on three different orbits at exactly the same spot. Beyond thet, I have not the aiiggiumh ides what it is. We they all the sau color? Yes. & Very even colored exeept that some of then vould look = little larger than others, a little brighter than others. The color was idmanhdat identical. etdenia’ Were there any changes/looking out the side cross your and back? Ho. I don't recall any. We talked about thet too and I couldn't recall that they locked any different in one direction than they did in enother. (Question, inaudible)....? Ho. (Statement, inaudible)... It might well have something to do with differences in electrostatic potential. . (Question, inaudible)...? The drift would be like--well if you were looking out--well if e snow fleke come drifting by the window is something goes 2 very rapidly, of course. iis: sens Sealing Wek en tale: tenis Sette tiehee just come Just some up across the window and maybe around and then drift away ané as it got out there a d&t Little bit it just seemed te assume its position out here. (Statement, inaudible)... Gh, no. $e wack sei 1k Saber sheer Shes Sh Subs ‘inet ieee Wifey smooth trajectory and rum off like this. It would afift up around here like that and then it would Gift off on it ow. It looked very mach~-it just Looked like snow. iu sili Giess*eeek ve tie walt nak oo ane nad tunnel only with a Gingle particle. Do you have any on your capsule? I‘ sure there is. I don't know what it is but I‘m eure there met be 29 Thee would not only be am electric charge, there would be a differential charge between the window and the outeide of the capsule which could explain * (Statement, inaudiblie)..... (Question, inaudibie)....? Well, thats a pretty 2 tough ome. I dom"t know. That would be like-- I hate to be too positive because it might lead you astray but I keep coming back to the fireflies agua again. Very, very similer to locking out at this-- a big firefly or little firefly. looking out on o real dark night in a pasture this might be @ email firefly up close and a big firefly farther away. As you @rift through these things they go by, they all lock reasonably wiifors. The ones that ere up close and some of the luminous ones were up mm very close. Definitely, did that make sense? As they would be up close end then drift away they didn't appear to diminish their light very rapidly. Just like seeing a firefly again. Weli. John you kept your dete with us promptly. I think we should let you go promptly. , I hate to break this up too because I want to find cut what these things are. I don't know thet to tell you. Im afraid I'm about ary on nev information. I won't ask you what did ‘they say John I may have to go back and check them. I'm ready. (Statement, inaudibie).... 3p I'é like te get together again because this was the firet real honest te goodness business like this we've conducted gince I got back here and this is whet I went to get back to next woek. I'm going back to the Cape Monday might. I's going to be down there all next week om touring plan end then probably beck down a the following week again until we get ae lot of this. I want to go through the Ziuke filles axl and get back to work and finigh thie type thing this week. (Statement, inaudible)... I don't think there's any great urgency from our point of view mainly it was to get the first impression there is always debriefing. Any time you would like to get even with us (Conversation, several, people, inaudible) Thank you Glen. Themk you. ROUGH DRAFT: $/13/62 CODE SCG: MD:dad MEMORANDUM to Director, Office of Space Sciences Subject: Considerations and @ecommendations of Weanned 72 YpaceYExploration Wollowing the Vaterview ( February 27) with Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr7/ Col/ "Glenn presented a S very detailed and factual description of his observations during the MA*6 flight. He answered rather well the many and varied questions presented to him during the limited intervieweMespite the fact that he was KBB ~sa lagi Af every, Yiever. dae oder’ os , properly 4“ a number of his observations remain of 4 duedt interest ai WowAe further sxplooattea; WecBueakck. it is evident that the astronaut can perform various scien- We tific experiments,saW®has the abilsty capability of doing compact so despite the many limitations imposed.by the/Mercury capsule. Some comments, on {col. Glenn's observations are presented below Wettewt fy a Woy A pec wn veendetent>,’ Luminous/particles : In response to MMMKKHHX a series of questions, Col. Glenn described the velocity field of in, oud the luminous particles, their brightness and outside the ; in shadow of the spacecgaft, the coloring and sunlight and their shape. For the velocity field, the particles al] in moved at presisely the same speed and all moved at precisely the same direction except for particles coming very close wma & Geno Sor to the spacecraft. This occurred similarly iw all three orbits. From the eis “Yonsiderations alone, it may be stated that the luminous Jparticles observed by Col. Glenn were not extraterrestial particles but were particles asso- ciated with the spacecraft or the—teunehing—om the booster. ate The consistency in the observations on the three separate orbits would require that the particles were associated with the spacecraft itself ( I have heard that O'Keefe AMY a, Wc Award, wed rns oul has i i ‘ the life support system which woutd pour vo Adu marncleo) \uun oa ~~ "4 Se ge Col. Glenn MBH described the Pe aed os particleg and the luminosity. The fact that the coloring apperens Acacmpl ew was a yellow-green and the effeesi¥ve observational pie- tume—deseribed.byGtenok would indicate that the particles became fluorescent in sunlight the particles observed in shadow were observed in the scattered light from the spacecraft and were probably illuminated only by visible "of the spectrum. ———<““@ihe change of angles OF the fparticles approaching close th the HB¥ spacecraft could be attributed to the replusive charge xxae the polarities of the particles and spacecraft were the same. The ability of Col. Glenn to observe the particles under improper dark adaptation Weald indicate that an astronaut would be in a position to carry through a series of experi§ments to investigate comets the physics of comments in the solar environment. Properly daxrk~astepsed Che various gases and dust particles ejected r while from the spacecraft during bole? condtttetrs .and Grsaduas, plauwed, wide unlnumnorte ancl, the spacéeaft is in sunlight could be exemiMedby the ws Sat pre donlecdaisred , astronaut-scientist ,andtiremesuate-comla_pexecexrded f Observations of Ai r glow and/faze : Limited by poor dark adaptation, Col. Glenn was not able to descibe any a significant observations of the stenfiera or the moon. In the absene of atmospheric scattering the sun appeared a brillant white, but showed no signs of corona. It is of interest, however, to consider Col. Glenn's observation al vee ot eos six to eight degrees ef—the twiligh a i a-s2#-t0e-eteht-desree-band above the horizon, with a haze layer about two degrees Although it has been speculated that wide at the top. Tit@reetertie—oimihe observation net the multipike = ale of thewindow Soak cause the high oe Wanye angle te the horizon oftha sin plow-oncdhezetyer, this apes oy Wa Pay nbe unlikely because of the variatiorn§ and angle of Moria? Woo pywnbeoe For Ufternd oucmialione oF : view ok-reteting, the space craft, Cri Geemm raced endAthefect that he did not see any double imagéing ine Ki Prabsernmg ia any of his ethex observationss further- alot more, he was able to indieese that the stars epservedthrough the haze layer became less intense while changing angle Serbedew wv the horizon. The USSR reports by Tito also inj = pe jp aang lour pe renved, wattle, Une 3599 Suber jo et BT : icated a high angle‘haze layer., Heie-evident—ohet "ian Gher investigations of the air glow and haze layerHxx should be carried out. Meteorology: The strikindegnadeton of lightning dis- charges as observed by Glenn point the way to consideration Naresrens of an edmesterr system for monitoring lightning storms over the earth using the meteorological satellite. The mapping ortempomed fo of the distribution of thunderheads tye lightning during the night appears to be relatively straightforward, while the similar mmpping during daylight appears feasible because} of the short time constan6 of the lightning flashes. —— Recommendations: Thateane variety of number of sie ° recommendations sppeas—+o—be—aparent following the very successful flight of the Mercury capsule. (1./ The astQrnautescientist carrying—cuts—the-eb- dasa Av ghancahoro \oy le should, publisHthder his & domes name (with an asboaiatdlees ie in a widely : these first- distributed scientific journaly.iIn this manner, tke obj hand servations would have wide distribution, be properly nO credited to the observer, and partichiexi be edited for correctness. ~ Additional support to the astronaut in carrying out scientific observations is warranted particularly in consideration of Col. Glenn's attifude and interest in carrying out such observations. Several instruments may be added to the spacecraft,within engineering limitations, to assist in obtaining further detail,data . a. OT A: Col. Glenn suggested that the followiee discussioms would be to his inter&ést. Such follow-on discussion is strongely recommended for further questions and exchanges , avd, inform the astronaut ahalysis to evaiuate-for-the-astronaut of the results of the KKXHEXX and study of his observations. It is i-tnedebostAmportenky” that proper dark adaptation methods be incorporated into the spacecraft system so that the astronaut may optimize his visual observations. comets g. Investigations of the physics of oouments and the feasibility of the cepdtel " Artificial Comet" experiment” may be carried out directly by the astronaut in a relatively straightforward way. XMX#X These experiments should be Tran we waluelimn WY SARL Umass carried out as—esstecst—to the feasibility of this preagel. -5- en due Cae ewe Ge xetaieda oA, cord duos ght neattony wig oc i se 6. 1S and-epticai-stuties, the photo- Pitter Ackee on pacer panolen OW multiplier fer-t- system# aad-e series of filters aS orreilatede., aracnwan Sor obrcnwting “hee, ULV avalos minal (including’ a -possible ftucreseent—piein fitter teo-—study \py SLounvacem ce, ) : ) should be incorporated into the spacecraft. 2 ; 5b eeast Saeial z ble -follew! ; 2-bhe-M nited flight, <éacfin consideration of the presentWzaplannea manned-space-flight-program, seme—reeommendations—are- pas, RowLA, dole Was actos CO “eG nrmprove sth. PPee Revence, apparent—+o’ take advantage of -the—-imprerements—in—the ereg « Lswrrdircbion ee schol Po astrenemy. At headquarters Ta Th VARA parma’ of. ad rogram Ghief and supporting staff inthe Jyace—schenase-—reporting to the Qirector of Space Sciences for scientific exploration ef in the Manned \ S pace Cli tiga Griccam ol, C4 Tran on cten b. t+ a committee or sub-committee be—formed indluding such people as Rode, Abddtiuat, Minnaert, Tousey, oa. vw Sekera, and-so-fortk to i the scientific community and the inthinrettivtty and, that a branch or dividion at one of the centers bencmaatelt as a scientific team foxr-diveesupport of the astronaut-scientists wno-VentUr ys IntO-SYS=BOLart Spat. WA, Nar In reply refer to: SGA(IRGsem1) BEB MEMORANDUM for the Files Subjeet: Telephone conversation with Dr. John O'Keefe from Capo Genaveral The following information was gathered from « eon versation with Dr. O'isefe on Wedmesday, Fab. 21, 1962 astronaut Glenn reported having seen small luminous partisles during his flight, They appeared to be moving at a speed of about three or four miles per hour. They were apparently not more than 1°3 feet away from the enpsule, and were visible by binceular vision, Their color wes golden like fireflies, and they seemed to be more to the rear of the enpsule than ahead of it, though they were visible for great distances all around, These partieles were visible only at sunrise (not at sunset), and the capsule seemed to be immersed in then, They very definitely had nothing to do with the eapsule or its movenent, Glenn alse reported that very clesr pictures of the stars, including Orion, hed been taken with the UV eamera, although the capsule zotion had caused a “wiggly” view, Jocelyn R. Gill Staff Scientist Astronomy & Solar “Physies 2 Bo0- 30007 A® - than Walton bo 0 dow UWA eQonwmenra - of Ses Coon G -* UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY (Contract W-7405-ENG-36) P.O. Box 1663 LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO IN REPLY aurea to: J-16-812 : i Guy, 13, 1962 Dr. Jocelyn Gill Room 62033 Federal Office Bldg. No. 6 Headquarters, N.A.S.A. Washington 25, D. Ce Dear Dr. Gill: : | B | | ‘The June 29 issue of Science brought to my attention J. H. Glenn's comments ALTON on "The High Layer". It seemed possible that the layer he described could be accounted for as a region of relatively large nitrogen peroxide (NOp) concentration, and the past two weeks have been spent in checking this hypothesis. Unfortunately I am not familiar with either photochemistry or upper atmosphere physics so the following analysis leaves mich to be desired; the hypothesis seems tenable, however, so I would like to bring it to your attention. Effective path length and comparison with possible surface observations. Referring to Figure 1, the height (H) of a point at a distance (L) from a point on the surface of a sphere of radius (R) can be found from the formula (R+H)? = R°4L74ORL sin © (1) which has the solution ilafsedis gerd as] Vertical path (No. 1) Horizontal pa from surface Figure 2 LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO DATE: July 13, 1962 For the following I will assume that the concentration of absorbing molecules in the region of interest can be described adequately by an exponential decrease with altitude above the bottom,of the layer, hence, can be represented by H where Y is the scale height in the layer and H mst lie in the layer. Then the number of molecules per cm* is found to be N (Besssues ) -| o(H) al om -14\{1 + (2)? + of sin 0 a Y R R N ® po e : J [a+ Vi+y? + ey sine | = Roo |e dy (Ye= where the integral is over the range of y desired (usually 0 >). For a vertical view (sin © = 1) path, the solution is simply Ni m YpPo where po is the density at the base of the layer. LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO TO: Dr. Jocelyn Gill = = DATE: July 13, 1962 For a horizontal path (sin @ = 0) tangent to the base of a layer (path No. 3) we note that y << 1 in the contributing region, hence, can get an approximate form R N= Rp fe? ay (7) ° which has the value nRY N= \ b0 Here Po is the density at the base of the layer, as in equation (6). An astronaut's view thru a layer from above would see twice the path computed by equation (7), giving Ng = po\ 2nRY molecules/cm® (9) A line of sight tangent to the earth and passing thru a layer at base altitude H (path No. 2) will have ne [oe ” | (10) ry! and we note that E e x | is the density at H,, the base of the layer, which we set equal to po as in equations (6) and (9), RY R N2 ™ Po = ™ Po 2a, LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO TO: Dr. Jocelyn Gill DATE: July 13, 1962 Assuming that Y = 7 km in an absorbing layer, we note that a surface observer viewing a layer at an altitude near 100 km will have available the ratio N, e755 (12) An astronaut viewing along path No. 3 would have a mich greater thickness, as (13) Viewing thru the layer to a point near the surface and out again the enhancement would be mich less, Ng ee we 7 ore 11 (14) Light received by an observer from a "point source" in space is attenuated by oN a factor e | where o is the absorption plus scattering cross section, giving (15a) LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO TO: Dr. Jocelyn Gill DATE: July 13, 1962 From the report in Science, I infer that for the layer reported, 1< oNs <5 (16) oNg = 3 + 2