In his Oral History, U.S. Mir astronaut John Blaha comments on the view of Earth from Mir.
He says, "There were lots of views that were spectacular. For example if the Mir ground track were over America at night, I remember viewing Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, all the way down the East Coast of the U.S., over into Florida, all these little golden spots (the cities) passing by in four and a half minutes. Another view would be a ground track from Seattle towards Houston. I used to love that one.
"I enjoyed using a ground track map that NASA had loaded on one of our computers. This map would allow you to see ahead what you ground track would be for the day, and note the times you would pass over the locations. I used to note the times and places I wanted to view on my daily plan so that I could take a break from work to view planet earth, and see some specific locations. I had planned viewing sites prior to the mission during preflight preparation. I knew from my previous space flight experience, that if I planned viewing opportunities, I could accomplish my work and have time to view the planet."
Related
Links:
Life on Mir
Blaha Increment
Profile: John Blaha
John
Blaha Oral History (PDF)
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Curator:
Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty |
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