FLIGHT PICTURES

Press, Volume C, Issue 29508, 9 May 1961, Page 15

FLIGHT PICTURES

View Of East U.S. Coast

<N.Z.P.A -Reuter —Copyright) CAPE CANAVERAL, May 7. The “beautiful view” that the spaceman. Commander Alan Shepard, saw through his periscope as he raced into space on Friday was shown today in a photograph taken by a camera inside his space capsule.

The picture showed the eastern coastline of the United States from the tip of Florida to Cape Hatteras. North Carolina. Also plainly visible were many small clouds hanging over the land mass and the Atlantic Ocean. The curvature at the earth was shown along the left margin of the print. A second picture released for publication by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration showed a small drogue parachute and its container drifting towards earth after It was jettisoned by the spacecraft The pictures were taken by a small 70mm camera which peered into the capsule periscope. It was situated so It would not obstruct Commander Shepard’s view

The camera took the pictures automatically on special colour film. The colour negatives show much finer detail than the black and white prints made from them for transmission by radio.

Three minutes after he rocketed up from Cape Canaveral. Commander Shepard exclaimed “What a beautiful view!” when he looked at the earth through the periscope. The picture was taken about this time, at an altitude of about 90-100 miles.

The drogue parachute popped out automatically at 42,000 feet to stabilise the spacecraft during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere This done, ft dropped off, pulling its container with it and permitting the 83-foot main parachute to unfurl to ease the vehicle into the ocean.

The N.A.S A. yesterday released pictures of Commander Shepard during the flight.