Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

Text

This text came with the file. It may have mistakes. When the text and the image disagree, the image is right.

57
Schirra - These things you canvt define by numbers.
In spite of
what my philosophy was for this flight you can't resist making
scientific observations .
That's taped?
I think it's legal.
Gill = That ' s what I. thought -- You wouldn't be human if you didn't .
Norqberg = I would like to get away from the horizon now for a
moment.
This is going to clouds .
There have been reports by
aJ:.1 .f:i ve of you on seeing cloud patterns and the like; is there
any good indication when you look down of on depth cloud?
Schj.. r f~ - Very much so .
You can get Paul Backer (try Charles
Coler, MSC, better) to give you the Weather Bureau photos I too~ .
It 's fantastic what you can see .
It is the meteorologist's dream
,~t;,
to see this depth, cumulus effect , high cumulus, etc.
As an
example, I SqW the Sierras, I could very definitely see the rising
terrain .
I was very much pleased.
I can best say this by s~ying,
if you ' ve flown at 30 thousand or 40 thousand feetp which you must
have , in a jet transport, you see this of course .
Now, if the
horizon itself is not visible to you when you are looking more
towards the surface of the earth, if the curvature of the earth is
not visible , you feel that you are at about 50 thousand feet .
Nordberg - And is this because of some sort of stereoscopic view
that you can still see shadows and brightness?
Schirra = I think you take every cue that you 've got and you
d~fferentiate colors by grays, blacks, whites, but there is
no doubt in your mind tha~ you see depth and there is one striking
picture, this Weather Bureau picture~ that shows ten different types
of cloud structure .
One is a big towering cumulus, almost a cumulus
·•·