Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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Scientific Debriefing
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( oules: You saw something over South America?
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fooper:
Yes, there is this other higher level I saw over South America.
ptanley Soules:
Did you see different cloud layers at night?
' ~ooper:
Only i:t there was moonlight and if there were towns or cities below
them.
On several occasions I could see reflected light particularly through
stratus type clouds.
Soules: You could distinguish clouds. Does the earth appear as blue to your eye , ,
as it does in the photos?
Cooper:
Yes. The overall color is pretty blue.
Soules: What is the color of the· twilight zone?
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Cooper: It is a baby blue~ It is a pure~ pure blue, very, very_ bright.
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Soules:
Did you see any meteor trails?
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Cooper:
No~
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Soules:
Did you see ·a lot of sun?
I T.TCIIY'l't to tell you I did'.
C<:> Oper :
I Sure did•
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Soules:
Was there any evidence of a corona?
Cooper:
No. In fact, the sun appeared to be like the moon 'does i'rom the earth.
Very bri ght. You know down here there are all those rays around it. But up there
it is just a glob and it is very very whitish bri_gb.t. It doesn't look the same
color. It is a very arc-like color, bluish white.
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Question: What about the looks of the ds.y slcy?
Cooper:
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The ds.y slcy just is not as dark as the nie,:it slcy. It is black and dark
but not as dark as the night sky. You can see the brighter .stars on the day side
when you are away from the sun and neither it nor the earth shine are coming in the
window.
Give yourself a few seconds to get dark adapted and you can see the brighter·
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On·the order of '3rd magnitl.lde.
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stars. They };lave to be fairly ~right to see them.