Oct 7 1962
From The Space Library
Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., after arriving in Houston after trip from Pacific landing of six-orbit MA-8 flight, held press conference at Rice University auditorium: "My intention was to use so little [attitude control] fuel that no one could argue that we [had not] bad enough fuel aboard SIGMA 7 for eighteen orbits, if we wanted it. I think I proved that point." He said MA-8 was a "textbook flight" and that he was sorry to see it end.
On the issue of space sickness, Astronaut Schirra stated that despite the prolonged weightlessness of this longest U.S. manned space flight, "there was no problem at all. There was no break-off phenomena, there was no uneasiness, there was no queasiness. I felt great.
"The suit temperature problem . . . is a problem which we have solved. I have been much hotter in the tent at Cape Canaveral than I ever, ever thought of being in SIGMA 7." He reported sighting the "fireflies" and believing they emanated from the spacecraft.
New York Times reported that more than 20 fragments from SPUTNIK IV had been recovered in Wisconsin. Launched May 15, 1960, the Soviet satellite had re-entered earth's atmosphere Sept. 5, 1962, and disintegrated over Wisconsin.
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