Camera, Weather Observation, 16mm, MA-8

This camera, a later version of the Fairchild aerial cameras used during World War II, was used in a weather photography experiment aboard Walter Schirra's Mercury Sigma 7 flight in 1963. The U.S. Weather Bureau (now the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) sponsored the experiment, which would use the camera and special filters to determine the spectral reflectance of clouds, land and water for application to weather satellites. This set of equipment includes the camera, two special film magazines, an extra lens, one of the special filters, and a strap probably removed from the camera before flight.

The camera and its equipment were transferred from NOAA to the Museum in 1986.