Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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8
Nordberg - Could you, were you able to observe, during the orbital
flight any decrease in the film on the window.
It may have evaporated
away , or did it just stay?
Schirra - I was hoping to see that and I did not observe a decrease o
This surprised me too.
I would anticipate that that gas would sub ­
lime awayo
I suspect that the vehicle itself • ,. we are getting
into the fireflies again - but the vehicle itself is surrounded by
an environmento
We have the same problem when we try to run a
capsule or· spacecraft in an altitude chamber.
It is outgassing
the water cooler systems and other components even in a man­
created vacuum .and as a result we can't maintain this vacuum
because it is creating an environment all the time.
I think this
is what we have done in the Mercury spacecraft with the by­
product hydrbgen peroxide gas and the water coolers antl this is
where I feel our firefly, frost particles come from.
Oid you
notice ~b~the ·~ay- getting into that, - that the particles were
observed almost immediately after I w·as •in orbit? -
I said, "I
see frost flakes."
Mr. Dubin -~You were in sunlight at that time too •. ..
Schirra - That's correct.
This is my only definition of the
difference in the way the sunlight itself gets to where I waso
Meaning that at sunrise it goes through a lot of atmosphere,
and as I get into sun above my horizon, I have no atmosphere;
so then its white again.
Nordberg - This deposit is of great interest to us .
That is