Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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meant that it was off to the left of my yaw angle - I was in
flight path in yaw at this instant of time - which means you
could determine where the vehicle was oriented and then also
get the sun-line in relation to the window.
Cameron - Incidentally, the sun must have been very close to
setting at that time, wasn't it?
Schirra - It was setting, in fact.
This is where I went on.
There is a dark line at the surface of the earth, orange at
the clouds.
Now there was a cloud horizon, as well, that I
could see.
Then a light yellow, a light white, and then a
blue band.
This was coming from the surface of the earth
going up.
A very light blue and then I got all excited and
said that I had the planet Mercury in sight at this point.
Mercury obviously was in the black.
It had not come down
into the Mercury set.
If you want to describe it in the sense
of sunset, Mercury set.
I think it deserves the term of having
the opportunity to set as well.
I was coming up from the surface
of the earth towards the darkness of space and then I detected
Mercury where it belonged, trailing the sun.
Dubin - Well!
The sun was off to your left about 40 degrees.
Schirra -
As well as Mercury,
Dubin - In the same direction?
Schirra - It was trailing almost a~cive the sun in this sense.
Which is where I had it plotted on the star chart.
Then I
wanted to describe the blue band and I said that there is a