Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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Schirra -
As an example, I was hoping that I could look up at
Japan after retrofire, and I couldn't see it at all.
It was
clouded in too.
Tennyson - Japan, this time of year, looks like it would be cloudy.
Nordberg - Particularly at this time of year - this was October, so
that was already in the Northern Hemisphere and should be out of
the tropical convergence zone.
Tennyson - But still Japan by nature is .... (cloudy)
Schirra - There was quite a bit of weather in the Pacific at that t i~~.
O'Keefe
Still, if he goes 28 degrees N to 28 degrees S, he was in
the tropical convergence zone most of the time.
So thin gs aren't
qui te as bad as they would appear from this flight.
Shoemaker - The point is that this also is in the area which is
mostly extensive deserts; these are the precise areas where you
would see the geology best.
Schirra - Yes .
O'Keefe
This is 30 North and 30 South -- the deserts are 35
degrees.
Shoemaker - Well, actually the extensive deserts nearly all lie in
(interrup ted) ...
Schirra - Something I ' m curious about is, I would like to have some ­
body - well there are two ways of doing this - I bet I probably had
water underneath me about 90% of the time.
Cameron - About how much cloud coverage would you estimate ?
Would
you estimate the amount of the earth that was covered by clouds?
Schirra - I guess I could check this more carefully.
I would