Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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is about the best way I can describe it.
I could see more stars,
as Scott Carpenter described it, when back on th~ surface of the
earth and many, many more stars in an airplane cockpit than in
or bital flight.
Roman - You could see more in an airplane?
Schi rra - Yes.
So in the debriefing of the flight I stated that
this is not a problem for pursuit of Mercury flights.
It is a
pr ob lem for pursuit of space observation and with the Gemini
vehic le, we have so1v~d th i s by having the windows properly
covered and also we hope so - well, Gemini doesn't have an escape
r ocket for one, which helps us,
Now on Apollo, we are plus or
minus on whether we can afford the weight of having window
cove r s, but if we do, it does have an escape rocket.
If we have
covers, then these windows should be protected.
And better, be­
cause we will need the stars on this particular mission.
But to go
back and try to cover the Mercury window at this late date would
be pr ohibitive hardware-wise and schedule -wise.
O' Keefe = What would you cover it with?
Schi r ra - First of all
for Gemini, we have no problem.
There is
no tower · rocket .
With Apollo they had window shutters the last
time I saw the mock - up which is not at all static. It is quite
dynamic even though it hasn't flown.
How this will be done I
don ' t know, but I think this is a requirement.
I don ' t even think
it; I know it is a requirement for Apollo.
O'Keefe - You don ' t think there is a possibility of putting a thin ­
say, some transparent grease over the window - which would come