Astronaut Scientific Debriefings, 1962-1963

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;-, pcientj f ie Debriefing
-31­
1~ l .pr. Voe.s :
The day sides get a lot lighter, at night they are about the same
,,
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fia.rkness as the inside of the spacecra.f't.
Cooper:
The night sky and the day sky is about the same as the difference between
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.
~ jet black and a dark gray. . (It is about the same difference b_etween the night
\
,
. .
'
sky and the day sky.) It is a sorter kind of dark during the day.
Not nearly as
dark as the night sky.
Dr. Voe.a:
Is it a smooth overall gray on the window?
Do you see any chance at a.l.l
that the grayness you noted could be minute amounts of scattered light from fog on­
the window?
Cooper:
I don't believe. so, Bob, because immediately when ·you got a faint amount
of obli que llght on the window it immediately looked like it was iced-over. All
you had to do was get just a faint amount on it and it appeared to be just like a
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canopy frozen over.
O'Keefe :
Was this scattered light 1n the window or not?
I hoped you could see,,
some kind of a pattern.
Cooper:
That• s what I •m saying.
When you have any kind of scattered light on the
window, when the window was in any kind of an attitude (demonstrated) say this is
• the window and out here is. the sun, any time the window was moved around where
.
.
•
there was any kind' of light shining on the window - just a faint amount of it
. would completely obliterate the vision through the window.
I just went completely
IFR.
There was just no looking through the window.
Of course, the earth gives off
an awful lot of light, and you can't see anything as long as the earth i s shining
in the window.
Any time the sun was back here fmd I was faced away from the earth,
regardless of attitude, the sky appeared to be a smooth gray.
O'Keef e :
You could see the griton\the window?
• Cooper:
You could see the light actually impinging on 'the Wind.ow.
You could see
•the scum all over the inside of"the outside ~e.
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