Schirra: Spaceship Earth ambience: first two minutes of Apollo 7 take off NASA Ground Control: Commit lift-off. We have lift-off. This is launch control.. This week we’re celebrating NASA and the Space Program. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. NASA Ground Control: Twenty-four seconds out, and Schirra reports the pitch program has commenced. Wally Schirra was one of the original seven astronauts chosen in 1959, and the only one to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. He commanded the 1968 Apollo 7 launch. Schirra: A Well, the outsiders heard more than we. We were inside of this well contained vehicle with a quite a well insulated system, plus we were wearing helmets then with padded systems, so we had what we call the “Mickey Mouse cups” over our ears which are what we had on the air craft carriers to protect the flight deck crew from this terrible noise of the after-burners. And as a result, our noise level wasn’t really prohibitively high. Of course we were communicating electronically. We didn’t have to talk to each other without a microphone or earphone. In fact, there were times later on when we did want to talk to each without the microphone or earphone and did, which made life a lot simpler. NASA Ground Control: 55 seconds, the cabin is relieving, Schirra reported a little noise. Schirra: I saw Earth on three different occasions, of course, on three different flights, and as you look at it, you realize you don’t see county lines or national borders. And yet, we were flying over Viet Nam continually on those orbital flights. We could see some conflagration going on; you could see some fires from down below. You couldn’t actually see the sense of combat. You usually see lightning as well, you it could confuse you whether it was a man-made thing or a weather made thing. But the most visible impact was the fact that there were none of these borders that all these politicians worry about. And as a result of that you begin to think of earth as a nice place for humans to live on. I left Earth three times and I found nowhere else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth. Astronaut Wally Schirra. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Wally Schirra - Spaceship Earth
One of NASA's first astronauts takes us inside the space capsule.
Air Date:07/17/2019
Scientist:
Transcript:
Schirra: Spaceship Earth ambience: first two minutes of Apollo 7 take off NASA Ground Control: Commit lift-off. We have lift-off. This is launch control.. This week we're celebrating NASA and the Space Program. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. NASA Ground Control: Twenty-four seconds out, and Schirra reports the pitch program has commenced. Wally Schirra was one of the original seven astronauts chosen in 1959, and the only one to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions. He commanded the 1968 Apollo 7 launch. Schirra: A Well, the outsiders heard more than we. We were inside of this well contained vehicle with a quite a well insulated system, plus we were wearing helmets then with padded systems, so we had what we call the "Mickey Mouse cups" over our ears which are what we had on the air craft carriers to protect the flight deck crew from this terrible noise of the after-burners. And as a result, our noise level wasn't really prohibitively high. Of course we were communicating electronically. We didn't have to talk to each other without a microphone or earphone. In fact, there were times later on when we did want to talk to each without the microphone or earphone and did, which made life a lot simpler. NASA Ground Control: 55 seconds, the cabin is relieving, Schirra reported a little noise. Schirra: I saw Earth on three different occasions, of course, on three different flights, and as you look at it, you realize you don't see county lines or national borders. And yet, we were flying over Viet Nam continually on those orbital flights. We could see some conflagration going on; you could see some fires from down below. You couldn't actually see the sense of combat. You usually see lightning as well, you it could confuse you whether it was a man-made thing or a weather made thing. But the most visible impact was the fact that there were none of these borders that all these politicians worry about. And as a result of that you begin to think of earth as a nice place for humans to live on. I left Earth three times and I found nowhere else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth. Astronaut Wally Schirra. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.