Aurora 7 News Conference

8/7/2019 Aurora 7 News Conference

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AURORA ? NEWS CONFERENCE

POWERS: Ladies aind genr..emen. We are happy to be back or. this platformagain after another very successful manned space flight0 Just in case thereis anyone here that doesngt recognize him I would like to introduce ourAdministrator9, Mr, James E0 Webb, Admimnistrator of the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration, on my far right, your left. I would also like tointroduce Mr. Robert R. Gilruth, Director' of the Manned Spacecraft Center9who has a couple of comments -Lo maSk Mr. Gilruth,GILRUTH: Ladies and gentlemen, it -s my privilege co introduce the fourthMercury astronaut to ride a rocket out of sapf CanaveralO You'll recall AlShepard's flight a year ago this month) Gus Grissom's last July- JohnGlenn's flight last February, aid now Scott Carpenter on the 24th ofthis m=nthq Carpenter being the latest of our space-experienced pilots.Scott, as you know, followed the trail blazed by John Glenn, the three-orbitAtlas-boosted flight., I think, however, inr any respects it is tougher tofly a second mission than a first one of a series, It's true that you knowfor sure that it can be done but you're still involved, in this case, ina frontier type of experiment -- you're riding an Atlas booster into flightat 17, 500 miles per hour -ort 5 miles a second , many hours of weightless-ness, and a reentry that as literally like the reentry of a meteor. Scott'sflight gave us a great deal more data on manned space flight and, of course,a complete and detailed report based on the recorded data and all of thefindings will be presented, as was done for John Glenn's flight, While westopped by the hangar a few minutes ago, I had a chance to look at a few ofthe pictures fran the hand-held camera of Scott's and he had some magnificentshots which I am sure will interest you greatly when they can b? processedfor viewing. Scott, I'd like to say congratulations to you, It's a greatprivilege and pleasure for me to be sitting here on this platform with youat this time, Scott Carpenter,CARPENTER- Thank you all, very mucho What you are about to hear is thereport of a working astronaut to the nation and to the people who paid for theflight and for whom the flight was made. It's the fourth in a series and Ican guarantee that it will be followed by many others, I know that you willbe interested in a first-hand account of the flight and I will get to thatpresently, but before I do that I would like to take this opportunity torecognize the fact- hat, without the sometimes unbelievable effort of manyqnany hundreds of people here at the Cape and at Langley, none of these flightswould be possible The labor of love that is evident here in the prelaunchactivities has always been an inspiration for Me. I would like to, if timepermitted, I would like to tell you more about the type of people thissort of an operation requires and -the type of people we have0 I take my hatoff to every last one of them The fact of the matter is they all workedquite a bit harder than I did0To get into the flight--I'll run through it in a logical sequence, beginningwith prelaunch. The period was without any concern on my part0 I think it'sinteresting to note that it had it not been for a fire in the Everglades


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it could have been a perfect count and a perfect launch at 7 olclock: Weheld 45 minutes for weather and that was absolutely the only difficulty inthe prelaunch preparations Ift also is the first manned launch we have hadthat has not been scrubbed after insertion at a previous date. This was myfirst time in the capsule on a loxed missile, expecting a launch and we didnot scrub, we had gocd systeme, the count went perfectly, the capsule wasa jewel throughout the flight, with some minor exceptions and the booster'sperformance was as close to perfect as - I understand -- as we have everwitnessed. The launch was much easier and much smoother than I had been led toto believe, There were some small vibrations at lift-off, I expected anincrease in vibration and noise level at about 30,000 feet where we expectedthe peak vibration but it was almost indistinguishable from the launchvibration0 This is the maximum q area and it was almost unnoticeable. Therewere a few vibrations in yaw just prior to staging but they were very gentle.Staging.occurred on time, tower jettison occurred on time, This was myfirst view of the horizon and the tcaer jettisons and departs with such greatspeed that the first time 1 saw it it was two or th-eie miles away, right onthe horizon, and moving pretty fast. I might add that the five-minute periodduring the launch was the fastest five minutes that I had ever experiencedand the entire five hours that the flight took was the fastest five hours Ihave ever experierzedG Sustaincr engine cutoff occurred right on schedule andall of the automatic sequences that were supposed to follow cutoff went righton 8chedule. The turnaround wasagreat thrill. It was the plan on this flightto accomplish the turnaround on manual control rather than on automaticcontrol0 It was great thrill to see that the control systems worked properlyat this time0 I think my irmediate sensations right after cutoff were two:one was the silence that descended suddenly on the capsule as soon as thecapsule and the sustainer separated, the other was the temporary feeling offloating which I got at the onset of the weightless condition0 I felt thatsomething was not right but it was just the immediate impression that I gotfrom the weightless state. But it is very noticeable to you that somethinghas happened. You realize that it is weightlessness and from then on itcxreates no problem whatever0 As a matter of fact, the flight is much easierbecause you are in a weightless state. Every function inside the capsuleis easier because nothing has weight0 It's the only time I 've ever spenta comfortable moment inside the suit0 The suit is restricting and it's notcomfortable but in the weightless state I'm more comfortable in this restrictivesuit than I would be at home in bed.We! had a different camera in this flight. We did not have the manual sh.tterImean automatic shutter. We had tw o lenses We expected to have thecapa lity tc photograph the particles that John Glenn reported: I have seena few of those pictures this afternoon and some of them- the ones I sawlooked very good, I think that we will learn a great deal from the colorphotographs that were taken on this flight0 We also had a special film whichwas loaded in the camera after insertion with which the horizon was photo-graphed through a special filter0 We hope to learn from this special film


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something about guidance of lunar rockets; I understand, also, rthat justrecently this film also turned out well. If this is true, we stand to--we have taken another large step in learning more about the space environ-ment0I think the most arresting sight that I saw during the flight was the sunsetor sunrise. It's a beauty beyond description and so I won't really try---thepictures will be available later on and you can judge for yourself, They lackrealism in one sense, A picture of a campfire really doesn't look like acampfire but you have a pretty good idea of what a campfire looks like,But it's not--it loses some of its realism because the picture doesn't glow--the fire doesn't glow with its own Light. And the pictures of the horizonglow--when the sun is just below the horizon the color bands won'- glow withthis same bright light that I saw, But the colors in the pIctures are true.It's the most magnificent sight that I have ever seen, I saw a beautifulsunset on Grand Turk last night and was pleased to remember that we neversee the same sunset twice on earth. I can--I feel that every sunset orsunrise from 100 miles--from space isidenmical. I also believe that, when thesun is just below the horizon, that if we were to see the "new earth" from theface of the moon, in other words the dark side of the earth from the moon, theearth would appear to be a bright blue ring in the sky, I think this ringthat I saw is bright enough, and in a "new earth" condition i: would extendcompletely around the earth and this is one for the artists to work on. It'sa beautiful, beautiful sight. I hope you get to see the pictures soon.One of our greatest unknowns, as a result of John's flight, was the fireflies,or the particles. I saw them not only at sunrise and sunset, but at various times.I think they are probably visible throughout an entire orbit I believe,that the first time I saw these they glowed with their own light, but afterhaving seen more of them I believe that is not true, They -- except for thefirst one you see against the dark background of space-they look like snow,like a small snowflake that's caught in an eddy, in a rising air current,They have random movement, They are brilliant, more brilliant than any starand they move in--they move consistently One particle will move consistentlybut they have--different particles have different relative movements 0 Thebiggest breakthrough in the particles field came at the end of the third orbitsouth of Hawaii, when I happened to see a particularly bright one and a parti-cularly large one, I reached over to the hatch for the photometer to try toget--to extinct it and get a reading on its brilliance and mny hand hit thehatch and at this tine a tremendous cloud of particles came by the window.I took the photometer off and rapped the side of the capsule and with each--each time I hit the capsule a cloud of particles would fly off, Some weresmall, some were large, same were illuminated and some were gray. Some werevery bright and some were silhouetted. I could hit the capsule side anywhereand these particles would fly off. I made this remark on the tape at the timethat it appeared to me that the capsule must be covered with frost and that arap on the side would knock the frost off, The size of the particles variesfrom 1/16 of an inch in diameter up to 1/2 inch in length, I saw one thatlooked like a metal lathe, filing, turning from the bit I believe that theseparticles come from the capsule. John and I argued at some length about this


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I, he believes that his particles were luminous -- my particles were not.We had an interesting experiment planned involving a balloon thatwas to be-towed behind the capsule. This balloon was deployed on scheduleover the Cape on the beginning of the second orbit 0 It deployed properly -it did not inflate properly0 It was supposed to have inflated to a sphereof 30 inches diameter. It only partially inflated and assumed an odd shape --maybe a sphere of 10 inch diameter with two little ears on either side.Its motion was predicted to be oscillatory and the magnitude of these

oscillations was not really known. It was experience that the motion ofthe balloon was random in all respects. It trailed out to the end ofits 100 foot nylon cord much more slowly than was predicted. Loops remainedin the line 10 or 15 minutes. Its motion was randan in pitch and yaw bothand also when it reached the end of ifs line it would bounce back and theline would wrap around itself again.We have some pictures of the balloon and the different lighting conditons.I think we can deduce from these pictures which colors will give us the bestvisibility in this environment. The experiment was largely a success howeverthe balloon did not jettison properly. Over the Cape on the second orbit, orthe beginning of the third orbit I intended to jettison the balloon and was

unable to do so0 I did everything with the switch I could think of to get itto operate properly but it did not jettison and remained with the capsule untiljust prior to retro fire0 I saw it pass the window very shortly before retrofire0 It caused no problem -- the fact that it did not jettison caused no(7~problem -- some concern perhaps for awhile but it was no problem. We alsohad this balloon mounted on a tensiometer and I was able to make somemeasurements of the drag on the balloon which I hope will contribute to ourknowledge of the density of the atmosphere at this altitudes As a result ofJohn's flight in Friendship 7 I had more leeway in the attitudes I couldassume with this capsule. I flew for extended periods of time in driftingflight. I had an opportunity to navigate with stars alone. We have comeback with some good ideas for yaw reference on the cark side.Also, during John's flight the moon was up and full for nearly theentire dark side period of the orbit0 I had only a quarter moon and forabout half of the dark side0 So this was our first good look at unmoonlitearth on the dark side0 We have a better feel for the ability to orientin yaw on the dark side0 We came back with some good information on howto orient in yaw with the stars0 I can guarantee that drifting flight offersno problem. I would be happy to have continued four or five more orbits indrifting0 The weightless environment, I repeat, is very welcome and verypeaceful There is just no difficulty in accommodating to this state. Iwent throught some movements with eyes closed and eyes open to testproprioceptive cues to the body under this weightless state and I am happyto report that again no bad effects were noted due to weightlessness.I came back with what I feel are so... good intensity measurements onstars particularly while they pass through the haze layer that John reported.I have some good measurements on the width of the haze layer -- its distatiie


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fro!. the earth -a how much stars are octluded as they pass through'us haze layer - the time required to pass through the haze layerand the time required fromt the haze layer to the actaal horizon. Withthe use of an air glow filter I was able to determine that the exactfrequency of t-he light waves come from the horizon or from this hazelayer. The haze layer is clearly visible through th 8 S577 filter

we carried and the horizon itself is invisible, This haze layer extends3600 around the horizon., There are a lo t of little facts that we wereable to learn from this flight an d hope to be able to learn from thefollow on flights that when they are finally put together -- hat willallow us to make tremendous strides.

Bob Voas remarked to me this morning on the airplane that this isthe heart and soul of science and it is quite true. isolated data pointsmean nothing0 Now through John s flight and my flight we have two datapoints on nearly everything that was observed Not only his flight confirmsmine but ny flight confirms his, We have a much more solid background now0This is what is behiad Project Mercury -- a lo t of data, Each flightconfirming the other.There was on e problem with capsule performance which occurred at thebeginning of the first orbit. It was improper operation of the automatic

control system. Since this was scheduled to be largely a manually controlledflight it did not concern me tCo much at the time and there are so manythings to do. Everything you see is such an awe inspiring sight that youdon t have time to linger on things that aren't of imediate importance0I recognized what I considered a small ASCS problem, I did not thinkit was serious at the beginning of the first orbit, T went on with theflight plan and tried to accomplish all of the objectives of the flight.This same problem recocurred two or three other times but again was --I didn't really -- I did not analyze it thoroughly because of the pressof the other items we wanted to accomplish during the flight. On thethird orbit south of Hawaii by count at the debriefing there were sixthings going on all at one time all. of which were important 0 One of themwas the preretrograde checklist which was to be read by the capsulecomnunicator at Hawaii 0 This was the middle of the time I was evaluatingthe fireflies,, rapping the hatch, and trying to get scme pictures andscme photometer readings0 I had-aligned the capsule again in the properattitude and was evaluating the ASCS problem. I was trying to stow theequipment0 I was trying to photograph the sunrise among many otherthings. I understand the report cane from Hawaii that I was a tired andconfused astronaut0 If my opinion is worth anything to you, this is lnottrue,, I will admit to being preoccupied It was a very busy time0 I hadsatisfied myself that the preretrograde checklist was complete An its.essential form and continued on with the photographs and analysis of theparticles and the analysis of the ASCS problem, I could not satisfy myselfthat the ASCS was operating properly in pitch prior to the time the retrosfired0 I told Al Shepard at Hawaii that I did not believe the gyros wereoperating properly and I intended to fire the retrcs while the capsule wasunder manual control rather than automatic control. This I did. Thecontrol task is nc- difficult -- the retros were aligned very well0


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-12-However, there was another problem at this time and that was mInylow fuel state. We had many things to observe on this flight, I wasanxious to do them all and possibly impatient with the time requiredto point the capsule in another direction to see something new,- The fuelconsumption was not the fault of the capsule,only the fault of animpatient man. I realized, of course, that we were low on fuel and wasable to complete a lo t of the rest of the flight plan while in driftingflight. However, after the retro fire fuel state was lower than I wouldhave had it and since I could not trust the ASCS again to position the

capsule properly for the reentry attitude I had to do this manually0 Inorder to do this when your gyros are not trustworthy some. maneuvering mustbe done to Ieep the horizon in view, This is what I did. I had 15 percent fuel on the automatic system at the beginning of the reentry. I didn'tknow whether this would be sufficient to control the oscillations that thecapsule picked up during reentry, I was pleased to find that we were throughthe reentry and the altimeter was - off peg at 100,000 feet and I stillhad 14 per cent fuel. The aux damp -- auxiliary damping system also providedas part of the ASCS in the capsule did a beautiful job and reentry was madewith the expenditure of only one per cent fuel which is interesting intormation.The reentry was very easy. There was no noticeable heat pulse in the cabin.After I was on the water the cabin temperature read only 105 .This isapproximately'what it'had read throughout the flight,,

GILRUTH:, That's what it is right here.CARPENTER. I think it's 120 right here,

There was another problem I should mention and that was the suittemperature control, For about an hour and a half beginning with the startof the second orbit or shortly prior to the start of the second orbit Iwas quite warmn I got reports from the ground that ny body temperature was102. I don't believe this is so. I didn't feel that I was that hot. Iwas perspiring profusely but this may have been as a result of being unableto control the suit temperature rather than having the suit temperature toohot. Through a long series of manipulations of the suit water-flow conTrolvalve I was finally able to arrive at a satisfactory setting and the suittemperature responded properly thereafter. I feel that we have a new feelas a result of this problem for the operation of the suit and cabin temperaturecontrol valves. I think that we have a better idea now of how to design anothersystem that gives better control of temperature.

I believe that as a result of the fuel consumption problem we have abetter idea now how to design a control system for use in orbit. What Iam trying to say is that there were mistakes and I am glad because we havelearned a great deal from these mistakes. There were other things I hastento assure you done properly. I think the pictures are very good. Wells Ihave been through those. I think we have some celestial measurements thatwill give the astroncuers food for thought for some time.


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I might talk a little about the reentry, I was surprised thatthere was no heat. The G pulse was quite long -- onger than Iexpected. I was able to talk into the recorder throughout0 I thinkwe have gocd data on the reentry0 I believe this capsule wouldreenter by Itself with no expenditure of fuel. This will be consolingto the next man who flies, We did not get proper operation of theautomatic recovery equipment. The drogue chute was operated manuallyprior to the time it would have operated automatically so I cannotsay that its automatic operation was not correct, The reason thedrogue chute was operated manually was because the oscillations ofthe capsule at this time which was a result of having no fuel0 Bythis time I was out of fuel -- the oscillations were diverging. I hadno control. I needed the drogue early in order to stabilize the capsulebecause I felt from seeing the sun through the window and just feelingthe oscillations that the capsule was beginning to oscillate throughmaybe 2700,beginning to get small and dcwn0 This is not a desirablesituation and so I punched the drogue at about 26,000 -- t normallywould come out at 21000. The main chute was due to come out at109000 -- I gave it 500 feet and at 9,500 feet I operated it manually.

The descent on the chute was normal in all respects0 I go tmr transmission from Gus Grissom at the Cape while I was on the mainChute that I was long and that I should estimate one hour recovery tire0The impact was imuch more gentle than I expected0 I might add theretro fire, the launch -- all of the accelerations, the vibrations,everything was less than I expected, It was a very smooth flight.

At impact the capsule did not right itself as I had expected. I sawdrops of water on the face of the tape recorder which is darn by your leftfoot. This coupled with the fact that I had an hour to wait for recoveryand the fact that John had reported such high temperatures in the cabinafter impact made me decide to get out through the small end, which I did.This is a hard job, it's a confined space but I did it without difficulty.I inflated the raft and climbed in0 The raft was upside down however.I couldn't find any of the equipment I expected to be in the raft so Igot back out and turned the raft over 0 I got out the SARA beacon andstarted it -- a radio homing device. I ate and drank water -- I drank alo t of water while on the raft. I was quite thirsty0 I also drank andate in orbit which is again no problem

The first thing I saw was a P2VW I signaled him with a mirror. Hecontinued to orbit my position and I knew that I had been located. Thenext thing I saw -- well I saw four or five airplanes circling the area.The next thing I heard was a man calling to we from the water behind theraft0 On cna of the passes 'that I had not observed a parachute jump wasmade and this man in a snorkel and a mask and wet suit swam over to my rafttowing his own and we attached the rafts and had a little talk on the water.Pretty soon another jumper went into the water and he care and we had athree man party out there on the water0 I offered them some food but theyhad just had lunch and weren't hungry0


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-14-We finally got the collar around the capsule. It continued tolist badly and I believe that the list angle increased gradually. I

was glad to see that the collar was around the capsule. I felt thenthat the capsule would be saved. Shortly after that the HSS2 fromthe Intrepid arrived0 I went back to the capsule and grabbed thehand-held camera which I had brought out of the capsule with me. I didnot want it to be inside and unavailable in case the capsule went downso I had brought it out with me and stowed it in the top of the recoverysection of the capsule. If the capsule did sink I would be able tograb it and keep it in the raft with me and keep it dry.When the helicopter came and dropped the collar in the weater Iwent back to the capsule and grabbed the camera and grabbed the collarand put it on and waited for the line to be nearly vertical so that I couldstep off of the raft and be inmediately hoisted and not get in the watermyself and not get the camera wet. When I stepped off the raft either thehelicopter settled slightly or the man operating the lift pushed the downbutton instead of the up button because I went down and I know that therewas a short period on the water when the only thing to be seen of me was thecable to the collar and a hand and a camera above the water. The cameralooked to me after I got in the capsule (helicopter) as though it wasconpletely dry. I got a report that the film was wet while we were at

GranO Turk. I was happy to learn this afternoon that the film wascompletely dry and the pictures are good.I think that's about it 0


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Powers Ladies and Gentiemen, before we get on, there are a coupleof people that need to be recognized also who had a tremendouslyimportant role in this program0 Certainly not the least of whichare five gentlemen who have been involved in this program very closelyand I don't know who is going to stand up in absentia for Deke Slayton.The five other Mercury Astronautsare over here on your right, Gentlemen,stand up and lets be seen.Oh there's his representative, there's the other Astronaut, rightthere, There 5 she seventh Astronaut, right there (Standing was KentSlayton, Age 50) And the five and one-half Astronauts are surroundedby a bevy of some of the most beautiful women in this country or on this

earth, the ladies of the Astronaut family, will you stand.And a gentleman today who was recognized over at the awards ceremoney

whao I think has done yeoman service and is the guy who bears theawesome responsibility in our Control Center for giving that final "GO"and that's Mr, Walt Williamssitting right over there,,Now we will be receptive to your questions0 Will you please standand identify yourselves0

Q: Conmander, you make this whole trip sound like a bus ride acrosstowns really, The country was very concerned for a while as to yourwhereabouts. Did you have any dangerous moments or moments of concernduring the entire flightsCarpenter That was the only item on my list that I failed to talk about0I would like to apologize for the concern I caused the people who watchedthe flight-for the concern in the Control Center. Had I known how concernedyou were, I would have been concerned0 But I was not T The .problem was incoimunications My status/good throughout, And in many respects this wasas easy as a bus ride,, wasQ. Scott, the cause of the concern seems to have been the 250 mile overshoot.Have you have been able to fatham yet what caused it?Carpenter: I have not0 I am sure that we can find from the data in thecapsule what happened0 It could be due to a number of things - attitudeis one0 Th e impulse of the retrorockets is another0 I don't know0 Theanswer to youi. question is I don't know why it was long. We will find out.Q: Scott 9 can you tell us anything about the confetti and the zero-gexperiments aboard?Carpenter. Yes the confetti was visible for - the confetti for those whomay not know were just small half inch, - quarter inch diameter circulardisks of mylar which were jettisoned with the balloon - I observed theconfetti only tw o or three seconds0 It became invisible very shortly afterjettison - or very soon after deployment of the balloon0


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The zero-g sphere I observed in the zero-g state and what we predictedactually happened. The standpipe was full and the rest of the fluid wasall clustered around the bottom of the standpipe.Q: Commander Carpenter, as you know we were concerned due to this lackof communications - usually you have the ionization blackout, then a re-establishment of communications, could you give any reasons for this anddo you know if the communications within the capsule were working properlyfollowing reentry.Carpenter: Cammunications as well as every other system save perhaps tb4ASCS worked beautifully, perfectly, throughout the flight. The black outwas the result of part of the communications lost, the overshoot causedthe rest, However, I did receive on the'shootoQ: Scott I understand your cookies crumbled up there, can you describethat?Carpenter That's right The cookies crumbled and the candy melted0I had kept all of the food in a large plastic bag, That was anotherthing we learned, The plastic bag the food is kept in must be kept clearso you can see where the crumbs are floating before you open the bag.QO Scott, you reported to the ground after retrofire that the capsulewas tumbling and that you had to damp the rates for reentry0 Tell ushow seriously it was tumbling0Carpenters Yes, this was not proper use of wordso Tumbling means to(7 me and I think to most of the people who hear it a rapid rotation rate0It was not rapid at all0 It was just drifting flight0 But it was notat a steady attitude0 It was not tumbling inthe true sense of 1he word0Q: Scott, could you describe to us a little bit the sequence of controls

the control usage you did from the time you were over Hawaii and you foundout the automatic was not working0 Which three or four different modesyou went to and why just having two different modes on at a time wouldnecessarily consume excessive fuel in one or the other fuel

supply?Carpenter: Th e pre-retrb checklist specifies ASCS operating and the manualhandle out which means you let the automatic control system control butthe manual handle is out giving you a backup if necessary0 Thd ASCS didnot appear to be operating properly at this time. I went to fly-by-wireon the switch that controls either ASCS or fly~by-wire and in the press ofthe moment ending up with manual and fly-by-wire. This gave double authorityand expended fuel fron both tanks0Q: I would like to ask Mr0 Gilruth0 At this point does it look as if thenext flight, MA-8, may be a 7 orbit mission0 If so, what changes will bemade in the capsule and can you now as you did last time at this point canyou announce the name of the Astronaut who will fly that mission?


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Gilruthl Well, I dealt a little with this at the press cofferenceimmediately after the flight. We want to look at all the informationthat we've got from this flight before we make any final decisiont Asyo u know we have a number of Mercury spacecraft available9 we have theboosters and we have a schedule that says that if we want to we can makeseveral more Mercury-type flights of either three or more orbits. Nowwe want to at this point look at all our data and look at the whole program,not only Mercury, but Gemini and Apollo - look at the whole context and makea decision based on that and of course until we rake a decision of themission, the type of flight, why I don't think we want to make the decisionon the crew or at least an announcement0Q: Commander, Do you have any recammendation on future flights thatperhaps the workload is too severe, That you are trying to do too manythings at the same time - scientific, communicating with the ground, theentire business0Carpenter, I think it is important to keep the man who is flying busy.And I was busy. And I hope that everyone who goes is busy, I think weshould plan to do as much as possible.Q: Scott, what principal modifications would you suggest in proceiduresin the capsule and in the suit for future flights?Carpenter:o That~s a question that has to be decided by many peoplein a discussion when all of the data from this flight is available.I think we have learned a great deal and we have information that willallow us to redesign many things better.Q: Scott: from the pilot's point of view do you feel that the capsuleis a piloting thing or a psychological thing too small or could you havegone right on if you had had enough consumables aboard for a twelve houror twenty four hour mission.Carpenter: Very easily.Q: We were told at Grand Turk about a piece of nylon cord that survivedthe initial heat impact0 Could you describe that for us?Carpenter. Y es A piece of the nylon cord that - with which the balloonwas tethered Lo the capsule - carried away after a part of the heat pulse.I don't remember exactly when this was0 This will come in post flightanalysis of the data0 But it is true some nylon stayed with the capsulemuch longer than I I don't understand how it did it.Q: Mr, Carpenterg did you draw any conclusions as to visibility anddepth preception in space that might be useful in the Gemini program?


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Carpentert I did,, Visibility is no different in space than it is here.All you need is a black background and you have a good simulation ofvisibility of blackness against space,, Against the earth there's nodifference and w'hat was the second part of your cuestion?Q: That might be useful in the Gemini program?Carpenter- Depth perception9 yes. You have relative size, always$ andyou have stereoscopic visionO There is no change in your ability topeixceive depth as far as I am Concerned0 I was able at one time timeto look straight down and distinguish four separate layers of clouds.This is depth perception of a hundred miles,,Q. Comnander, you reporued being to affect the attitude of the capsuleby moving your arms and head. Would this give you an auxiliary mode ofcontrol?Carpenter- Yes, 'Wehave to experiment a little more with an efficientway to do this., It's not very efficent now and the rates are affectedonly in oscillation. I couldnit establish a new rate and leave it there.Q: What do you feel remains to be proved on future earth orbit missions,MA-8.9 etc.?Car-pentersl e have a good machine,, You always need to prove reliability.As far as I'm concerned I'm ready for two week s in orbit0Q: Could you give a little more description on how you positioned thecapsule just before retrofire ard also did you have any difficulty indistinguishing the horizon?Carpenter. The horizon is clearly visible at all times and the attitudewa s adjusted prior to retrofire by reference to the horizon through boththe perioscope and the window,Qc Did you do any more scientific experiments that you haven't mentioned.I understand that the Goddard scientists wanted you to look at thezodiacal light and also at the moon and the weather bureau wanted you totake sane special pictures if you had time.CarpenterO That's right0 I did not get to the weather burialsilm. Idid convince myself that the dim white phenomena are not visible thruthis window. I could see more stars from the S2F[flight from CarrierIntrepid to Grand Turk] cockpit ccming to Grand Turk tw o nights agothrough the atmosphere I could see in space through the capsule window,Q: Scott9 carn you give us some idea of your personal schedule for thenext fews days, or weeksi, if you choose to?Carpentero I want to go to Colorado for tw o days and then Rene and Iwant to go back to Langley., To go hale for a while,


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-19-Q Ca'miander Carpenter, have you beer. ahle to figure out what thesmoke was that appeared in the cockpit - how much was there a.- howserious was it?Carpenter: It wasn't serious, There was about two pounds of it.I don't know how much smoke there was. It wa- about six inches long,and tw o inches wide, three inches thick. And it came from over my leftshoulder, disappeared or dispersed rather quickly and smelled like hotcopper0Q: How long did the use of fuel out of both of your auto and manualtanks continue. Did it continue thru retrofire? When did you detectit?Carpenter: Through ratrof ire, After retrofire was over my manual fuelwas expended0Q: And you had closed cff your automatic fuel because you had completedthat maneuver,,Carpenter: No, I continued on automatic fuel. That's all I had.Powers- Using the fly-by-wire system.Carpenter. Right,Qo On this fuel question, what would you recammend be taken out ofthe spacecraft to meke room for more fuel for longer trips.Carpenter: That's s eething else that would take long discussion0 Ihad sufficient fuel, I managed it improperly0Q. Commander Carpenter, just prior to reentry, let's say practicallythroughout the flight, are you sitting almost upright relative to theearth when you are looking out the window checking the horizon?Carpenter: That's correct 0Q: You mentioned when you came over Hawaii doing six things at once.I have tw o questions0 No. 1 - do you feel that the le t down proceduresdon't start early enough - that they should be started farther around onthe orbit 0 And second - did you accomplish everything on the checkliston le t down?Carpenter: The confusion here - if you want to call it confusion - 4wichI don't - resulted from a combination of things0 First of all the discoveryinvolving the origin of the particles, sunrise at the same time, which isfunction of launch, stowing the equipment, taking pictures, and so I don'tbelieve that a change in procedure is necessary0


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-20-

Q: At one point they told you I believe in two minutes echo wouldbe coming over head relative to you, Did you look for it and didyou see it?Carpenter: I did not and I did not, It conflicted with the balloonexperiment.Qo Scottq did yo u see the Atlas booster. John Glenn . 2 ntionedthat he looked down and saw it and could have gotten there if hehad had the system. Did you see that?Carpenter: I did and photographed it many times.Q: Did you fly mob, of the flight with your visor open or closed?Carpenter: I would say seventy per cent visor closed, thirty percent visor opened,Q: It has been reported that some water went in your space suit afterhitting the water. Did that create a problem at any time?Carpenter: No it didnvt, It was nice to have it aboard. It was cool.Q: If you had this flight to make again with the knowledge you nowhave, would yo u do anything differently from the pilot's point ofview and would you describe it?,Carpenter: Not I would do nothing differently0Q0 In that connection wouldn't you undertake an earlier checkout ofthe automatic stabilization system so that you would know its exactstatud I before retrofire?Carpenter: Yes, I understood this -[the previous] question to mean wouldI plarn it differently. I would not0 I would try to execute it differently.Q: Colonel Glenn discovered when he returned that he was carrying contrabandmoney aboard0 Did anybody put anything in your capsule or did you yourselfcarry any personal manentoes you would like to tell us about now after theflight?Carpenter: No0 No0 No.Q: Scott, what was your weigh-in weight and what did you weigh out at, please?Carpenter: Prelaunch, 154. Post impact, 147.Q: Carwmnder, could you tell us a lit.tle more about the lights you sawover Australia - particularly which side you saw them on, left or right?Carpenter: I did see some lights over Australia. Th e cloud cover didnot permit my identifying them.


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-21-Q: Did you use any of the drugs either on or during or after the flipht?Carpenter: No, ma'm.Q: On the blood pressure measurements did you detect any abnormalitiessuch as they monitored back here on earth?Carpenter: No, I didn't, It's impossible to detect only pulse thruyourself - thru this blood pressureeQ: In the radio transcript here at one point, you mentioned a loosepiece of hardware floating around and your quote is, "Roger, I've gota washer I se got to put away." What happened to it and where did itcome frin?Carpenter: I don't know where it came fram. It was just floating pastmy face. I picke' it out of the air and put it in the glcove compartmentand it leaked out tw o or three times after that and there was one longDeriod that it stayed - maybe two or three minutes - right here in frontof my face. It didn't move,: I un(1cPrt,2. (! he recorder which records your physical condition in

flight is under your legs and near the floor. Did that get wet and destroythe records, particularly during reentry0Car-enter: Tt didn't get wet during reentry. The answer is - I don'tknack, I think that there was some water -- sarebody help me with that --

. the tare ok?? It is ok.^: You are talkinp about experiencing a relatively easy time when youfired the Plo s Would this indicate to you that perhaps - based on Johnr'lenn's experience - that the retros didn't fire with the proper amcuntof thrust??Carpenter: I don't know. John described the sensation to me as beinga healthy kick in the back0 I didn't get that. I also read, prior toreentry, only OS g on the accelerometer, This is not as much as we expect.Q: When did you read that?Carpenter: Prior to reentry after retrofire.Q: Scott, after the long period - 4 1/2 hours of weightlessness - andyou came back into a rather high "'G" field - 6 or 7 "G" did ycu experienceany particular discomfort in that high "G" loading?Carpenter: I noticed no difference - 6 1/2 g during this reentry thanI've noticed on the centrifuge at the same level.


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-22-Q: Coarmandert can you tell us what surprises you may have in storefor the astronomers you mentioned in your talk?Carpenter- The surprises I don't have in store- they are stored by thetimes and figures and the data that is already available to them.QQ Commander} Where seems to be some indication that you had some trioubleafter leaving Hawaii - at least you've communicated this to the Kauaicommunicator if that is so, can you describe what it was, was-it the ASCS?Carpenter:, The ASCS did not manintain the proper pitch attitude, I alignedthe gyros and the capsul.e would not hold retro attitude. It pitched down,Q: You conserved fuel following retrofire, Could you tell -us what yourangle of attack was tihen you hit the top of the atmosphere were you ableto Fet in a roll.. rate and how wide were the swings of the capsule thru themaximum heating period?Carpenter. I was able to get a roll rate in., The reentrv angle was righton and the oscillations thru the g periodI don't believe got more thana double amplitude of a half a degree per second0 It was beautiful0Q: Just to recap, Scott, did 'iou say you were out of fuel after retro?Carpenter, Out of manual fuel after retro I still had manual controlon fly-by-wire which utilizes automatic fuel.Q But you were out of manual?Carpenter- I was out of manual, right.QG Commanders, do youl know whether any fixes on your position were obtainedfrom the explosion of the SOFAR?Carpentero, do not sir,Q: Colonel Glenn said following his flight he believed sane of the -there was so much redundancy capsule that perhaps some of the automaticequipment could be taken out and replaced because man functioned so per=fectly in space do you think some of the systems can be removed tomake room for other systems?Carpenter- I do. This is the confirmation I spoke of earlier.Gilruth: I'd like to make a remark about that. I think that we donvtwant to take away from the pilot those automatic systems that make flighteasier9 You wouldn't want to take away automatic pilots from people thatfly airliners. I think the thing John refers to and that most of us talkabout are the decision making things in the flight- such as the autcmaticsequencer that can be so well replaced by a man in the sequences that arenot time-critical. That is9 in an airplane the pilot decides when he putsdown his landing gear - you don't have a sensor in there that senses theheight of the airplane and the steed automatically puts the gear down.These are the kinds of' things that cause great simplification if you dr'onthave to put them in, Of course if you are flying unmanned or with animals


17/17

-23-you have to have them. But if you can leave them out and trust theman to do these things, it really helps. I just want to make this point.0: Scott, was there some particular reason why you did not try tor.o(dio c(rmunicli.-ion while you were still in the capsule on the water?Guirixliir: 1 (Iihd.Nobody read it.Pcwers: I monder if the tw o pararescue men that are here would caneurn ho-(v, ind let's (ce vou,

('-/ Zii, 1'. !'cC.Iurt.- flld A/Ic John F. Heitsch came to the platform)Paocr-;: INow we t-ant to know why you didn't accept that lunch offer?MIcClure: We just had dinner a couple of hours before that.PoweimC;: T soee * ll T think both Scotty and all the rest of us in theproducm are mightly mighty sroatful to you for some very heroic thingsthat vou have done. Thmink vou very much.And thaiik all. of you.CQ;Yneivtcr: lk 1 01yoUViIV much.

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Aurora 7 News Conference