Gemini 4 Experiment Debriefing, 1967

I
Tuwlay, .lag. 24, 1965 THE WASHI lGTON POSTA6
GEMINI-From Page Al
Gemini MakesPrecision Maneuvers
NASA Photo from ttPI
Mrs. Charles Conrad Jr., accompanied by and gets a first-hand view of the progress
her father, Winn DuBose, sits in the view• of her husband's flight aboard the Gemini
Ing booth behind Gemini Control Center 5 spacec:raft.
-----------~---------------------~---
Chronological Account of Orbits
As Space Flight Enters 3d Day
Following is the chronol- for the pilot (roughly six banter turned into an im-
ogy of the Gemini 5 $pace quarts eaoh). I'm just getting promptu variety act with this auts rep?rted seeing their sumed was that the Agena The co:nference is devoted to
flight of Astrona1otts L. Gor- ready to eat Meal Co,arlie." exchange between the capsule home temtory of Houston, and was in an elliptical orpit whose "the exploration of Mars and
don Cooper Jr. and Chari.es and Houston: nearby Clear and Ta~lor high point and low point were Venus."
Conrad_ Jr., compiled from 30th Orbit-8:14 a.m. l\IcDivitt: "You sure do talk Lakes. They also saw Florxda. about 210 and 141 miles re- Strong described for 250
news dispatches. The astronauts reported that a lot." 1the Bahamas and Cuba. . spcctively. To effect a near scientists the instrumentation
Shortly after midnight Sun- each had slept a t~tal of about Conrad: "Say again." : ~u; the!e wf ~ 1f: t.::Y did rendezvous wiith the imaginary and techniques of the Novem-
day Gemini 5 had completed 10 hours since the :llight began McDivitt: ''I said you sure ~~ th!erau~t• ::ti:le. M:~de Agena the as~ronauts _had to ber,_ 1964, bal_loon. 8:5Ce~t pro-
24 orbits and 38 hours of its at 10 a.m. Saturday. The do talk a lot" f 1 Y as 1 ed maneuver their craft mto an ducmg the 1dentif1cation of
121 - orbit 190. hour scheduled oxygen pressure, at more than C d "\V.h t d t ~r exfamp e_. wraft caarnp·eannand orbit with high and low points ice crystals in the atmosphere
' 100 d 10 d onra : • a o you wan v1ew o an aire r f 193 d 124 ·1 bo th f V W t h dvoyage. poun s, was up poun s t d . ,, ?" destroyer· a star called Denub o an m1 es a ve e o enus. a er vapor a
from the previous day and 40 me O 0 , sm., you a song· . ' . . • earth. been discovered on a 1959 bal-
12 15 d f th 1 • t S t M n-v·tt· "Th'nk you can?" and a Mmuteman m1ss1le sent l fli ht25th O b• 1r it- : a.m. poun s rom . e ow pom a • ' c 1 1 ;, . ·,, aloft from Cape Kennedy, After four maneuvers, in- oon g ·
Gemini Control at Houston urdaY when it appeared that Cooper: He smgs off key. which though not planned to eluding an orbital plane He speculated that a 120-
concluded that Conrad's hus- the misSiOn might have to Conrad: (in a singsong) be viewed by the orbiting as- change of roughly 1-50th of a mile-an-hour wind on the face
ky voice resulted from lack splas~ down P;ematurely after "Over the ocea?,. ove~ ~he tronauts, was the object of degree, Gt'.mini 5 virtually of Venus drags the i«:e crystals
of sleep and not from any the sixth orb~t. Con~ol gave blue, here's Gemm1 5 smgmg their attention as they passed achieved the high and low around to the back side, there,
serious throat condition. Dr. the cap_sule ~ structions for to you. (Pause) Well, I'm going roughly 1000 miles away. points desired. presumably, to become the
Duane Catterson said it had perform':°g a simulated ren~ez- back to talking." In spite of their difficulties An orbital p I a n e change "warming snowfall."
"not affected his ability to 1usn wi;h a ~:ke • believe McDivitt: "Get you a job in viewing the world around works this way: . Dr. Strong told the engi-
perform." Cooper continued thge ah 3~~et b't the 32d with the Houston Astros." them, Cooper and Conrad are The plane of every orbit cuts neers, teachers and research-
to catch up on sleep. roug or is. At 11:18 a.m. control told doggedly performing as many through the earth's center. ers from universities, space
31st Orbit-9•47 am the spacemen they could go at of the 17 medical, engineering Most of these orbits are with exploration cotnp·anies and
26th Orbit-I :48 a.m. . . • • • least until the 47th orbit or and scientific experiments as reference to the Equator. The government that man's cur-
Conrad tried several simple The mission passed the two- until about noon Tuesday. possible. angle the plane makes to the rent knowledge of Venus owes
ex eriments ~ the capsule day_ mark•.The a$tronauts Equator iS its inclination. as much to "Gulliverian spec-
p~sed over central Asia agam complamed of the work- 32d Orbit-II :21 a.m. Pod Heat Measured Through the use of propulsion, ulation" as to documented re-
Cooper woke up and Conrad load .0rde:ed by Gro~nd Cn- The astronauts powered up· Indeed, today an Air Force spacecraft can alter that incli- search.
began a long sleep. Ground trol m thlS conversation ~!th their equipment and executed spokesman reported that the nat~on a!ld, hence, change Later this year, he said, an-
Control said the flight "looked astir~naut James_ A. McD1v1tt, the first of four blasts from astronauts had recorded more their orbital pJane. other balloon carrying equip-
m ssion communicator at Hous- than an hour of rad1·at1·on data· · ·real good." ton· their maneuvering rockets to . . • ment from his laboratory is
. c·ooper: "You might have a change their orbit and bring infor~ation on the_ amount Police Reinforced ~xpected_ to bring back more
27th Orbit-3:31 a.m. little talk with the flight plan them into theoretical rendez- and kmd of heat emitted both mformation on the character-
• al th • • by objects of nature and man- After Ramleh Attack istics of VenusThe orbit began ong e ning people. They're filling us vous with the phantom Agena, d b. . d •
west coast of South A~eri~a just a little bit too full We whose track was being pro- ~! \~u~Jts-m space an on Reurers He told the conference the
near the equator. While his can't get the equipment nut to- grammed by a ground com- 0 g • d b. t . TEL AVIV A R . automated, unmanned baloon23companion remained in a gether and torn apart in. the puter. By comparing the lat- . ne man-ma e O Jee in par- , ug_. - em- is much preferable to the
0deep sleep, Cooper made con- time they're putting these ter "."i~h the actual track of ;~1~!:\i~e !~:11i::!i:r:Ja~u- :oure~ ~e iowns~p : :am~ manned vehicle; _also that a
tact with the Canary Island things together." Gem1m 5, Control would later ' . . Y oure e wons P O 11:ID balloon gondola is never an
tracking station and con- McDivitt: "Okay. Gordo, I'll estimate the closeness of the th~ aStranauts for its heat Sig- leh,thwhere a ckrodwdt~f JeAwishb easy base from which to fix on
ducted a successful purge of take a check on that I simulated linkup. naTuhre. A. F k you ts atttac de e ra and track a planet like Venus.
th f 1 11 gen and hv th· k f h t1· h. • 1· e 1r orce spo esman quar er yes er ay. D Di k B di t
e ue ce oxy .,- m one O t e ig t Pan- . noted from a preliminary an- The youths attacked the r. c rouwer, rec or
dro~en_ systems. He aso made ning problems, ~ordon, is 33d Orbit-12 :56 p.m. alysis that it gave off roughly Arabs after the funeral of a of Yale University o~erva
penod1c chec~ on _electx:on that the weather 1s not too Cooper and Conrad per- as much heat as had been an- Jewish youth killed on Friday tory, spoke on the orbits of
and ion flux mteracbon with ?"ood todal-'., so they are tr~- formed two more rendezvous ticipated. in a collision between his mo- Mars and Venus.
the spacecraft. mg to . stick them (exper1- ~aneuver:s. The command This is the first time that a torcycle and a taxi driven by He was aske~ by report~rs
28 I O b't-5 •05 ments) m where,, they have p1lot spot~ed a ~uge cheeker- space object has been studied an Arab. Some 12 Arabs were about speculation about life
t 1 r 1 • a.n~. good weat~er • • • board design laid out on the in this manner by Americans injured in the attack. Police on Mars.
Coo Per ate a substan~al Cooper : Yeah, w~ll some of ground near Laredo, Tex., as from space. Such infrared or said today they had arrested "Cross it off," he answered
meal of concentrates of chick• these - • • were Just bang, a test of the astronauts' abil- heat-sen.sing devices could 22 of the youths. with a laugh.
en and gravy, bacon and eggs bang, bang right together. We ity to see from more than 100
and chocolate pudding. Con- just can't do them that close miles in space.
rad continued to sleep. together. That's rather poor;
. • planniJ?-g:" " ,. ·i 34th Orbit-2 :31 p.m.
29th Orbit-6.39 a.m. McD1v1~t:.. Okay. The astronauts completed
Conrad woke up and had Conrad. We got to watch-the make-believe rendezvous
the f O11 ow ing conversation these le~s changes. \~e got attempt and learned they had
with the Canary Island track- every piece of_ gear m t~e come within two minutes of
ing station: spacecraft floatmg around . m being in the right spot at the
Surgeon: "You're pumping ~~~e. We can't keep up with
full scale. We have a good it. . . " ,,
blood pressure . .. Giye me a McDivitt: Roger, roger.
mark when you begin exercis- The~ ~ate~;
ing " McD1vitt: Hey, Pete. Gem-
Co d· "Sta d by- mark,, ini 5 Houston here. Why don't
mand pilot (Cooper) is takmg Mexico."
S nra • . "W n ha e
urgeon. ~ v a go~d you make a few comments for
the better sex."
blood pressure. Conrad: "Hello there. We
Conra~: "Roger, t?e c~m- just passed over Tampico,
his two-hour period nap now. M D. .· t t· "P t p t
. t c I v l • e e, e e.
The pilot (Co~rad) slep _abo_ut Jane's up here. Why don't
4 hours ~5 mmutes o_f his ..sJX- you say something?" (Jane ls
hour period, very soundly. Conrad's wife.)
Surgeon: "How's your water Conrad: "Hello there. How's
intake?" all the boys (his four sons)
Conrad: "Twelve and a half doing?''
pounds of water for the com- McDivitt: "She says fine."
mand pilot, 11 pounds 3 ounces Still later in the orbit, the
right time. Then they turned
off much of their electrical
equipment, successfully per-
formed a routine test of their
fuel cell system and settled
down for some' sleep and
meals.
35th Orbit--4:07 p.m.
\Vhile Conrad slept Cooper
· '
snapped P1«:tures or se~ected
landmarks m an experiment
designed to help future astro-
nauts navigate successfully
home from the moon. A med-
ical check indicated b Oth
spacemen were in excellent
cond iotion. Cooper was told
weather conditions around the
world were good.
36th Orbit-5 :43 p.m.
Conrad reported that the
temperature gauge in the
capsule cabin had failed, but
he said a hand-held gauge
was wo1·king. Ground Control
said the temperature reading
made from telemetry data
was 74 degrees. During the
• orbit, the astronauts photo
graphed a tropical storm.
37th Orbit-7 :19 p.m.
The Ground Control center
repo1-ted that the radar set
aboard the spacecraft was be
coming too cold. To warm it
up, officials ordered the as
tron3uts to turn the radar on.
The temperature rose from
16 degrees to 26 degrees,
which is normal. All other
~ystems aboard the capsule
were also operating normally.
AdnrllHmltll
looks very good for eight daysIprove useful to the military
and there is nothing that says for sate 11 it e inspection in
it shouldn't." space.
In a mishap on the ground, The radar evaluation pod,
trouble developed in a com- which was to have played a
putcr memory system at Gem- significant role in a Gemini 5
ini 5 mission control late to- rendezvous attempt on Satur-
d 1·s _,,. ected to plungeday, but was cleared up with- . ay, -..xp ,
in 11 minutes. mto the ~arth s . ~tmosph~re
. . and a fiery d1smtegration
The f3:ilure m the memory during the .evening of Aug. 26.
syste~ did not adversely :affect Today, Gemini officials indi-
the fhght. It developed m the cated that if they knew on
histo_rical. data dru_ms, which Saturday what they knowd 1 f
provide mstant 1sp ays o now it might have been pos-
flight trends. sible to have carried out their
After the problem was original rendezvous plans with
solved, personnel, who had the small pod.
calculated lost data manually, Since Saturday, ground tests
programmed the trends into have shown that would have
the drums. The drums store been possible with the amount1---,---------- tary fighter planes. there 1~ a possibility they
flight information for 12 hours, of oxygen available on Satur- Tooth-brushing is just that. may famt when they leave
then are erased. day. What the officials did not Venus Heat The brush hangs on the space- t~eir capsule at the end o!
The failure occurred at 6:23 know at that time was when craft interior by means of the eight days. .
p.m. (EST) during the 37th the falling pressure in the material used as fasteners O-ll Dr. Howard Mmners said
orbit. oxygen would stabilize, if at He' J Caused golf gloves and women's. they might experience the
As for the astronauts, their all. UI, purses faintness a pe~son feels who
day was filled with experi- Nonetheless Gemini offi- There is no toothpaste on has been bedridden for some
ments, sightseein~ from space, cials obviously are delighted By Snowfall board so the astronauts squirt time and first gets to his feet.
and some complamt. with their ma1reshift simulated their 'mouths full of water, "The treatment is simple,"
, · ""\'. - d brush and swallow. said Minners. "Lie down." He
Coopers Complaint rendezvous carried_ out to_ ay. BLACKSBURG, Va., A.ug. Washing after each of the called the faintness "ortho-
The complaint came from It involved making believe 23 (AP)-Venus, the --red hot day's four meals is done with static hypertension'.)>
Cooper. In a brief flare-up of tha~ an Ag_ena. rocket was aL planet between the earth and wash pads and towels that re- -----=:--::--=;------
irritability, the normally la- a given po~nt m space-act~- the sun, is almost as hot on West Va.
conic astronaut said the flight ally the pomt a real A~ena is its "black side"-the side away --------·----
planners were not giving the expected. to be at. d~rmg tJ:ie from the sun-as its lighted
astronauts enough time to get frthcommg ~emmi 6 mis- face, and it is kept hot by
their chores done. "We can't sion. Then, usmg !adar data snowfalls, a Johns Hopkins
get the equipment put to- !~~dsg!~~:~;;~~o~,mi~~~: U:?iversity theoretical physi
g_ether and torn apa:t by the instructing Cooper and Con- cbt speculated today. . .
ti~e they are putting these rad to maneuver on four dif- . Dr. John Strong, a pioneer
thmgs ,,<th~ experiments) to- ferent occasions during three m balloon telescope ast~on-
gether, said Cooper. revolutions around the earth. omy. dropped this cunous
Report on Sightings item into the scientifi<:. pot on
How Craft Was Maneuvered the first day of Virginia Tech's
As for the sights, ~he astron- What Gemini officials as- fifth annual space conference.
----------------111- - -~ __- ■-■-■-■---.-...---;----11
Staking of Claims
On Moon Ruled Out
A•OOCl&ted Press
The Government has
some advice for would-be
moon homesteaders: For-
get it.
"The moon belongs to
the world, not the first ar-
rival," said a spokesman
for the National Aeronau-
tics aDd Space Adm.iniSt ra-
tion.
"We assume that any ex-
ploration there will be
handled on an interna-
tional cooperative basis
much like that in Ant-
arctica."
Over the years, how-
A i
ever, many mer cans
have contemplated a life
beyond eal'th. Some even
filed claims with a county
recorder, listing the moon
or part of it as their own.
Disposal of Body Waste
Is Easy for Astronauts
HOUSTON, Tex., (AP)-Dis- semble deodorant pads and
f 1 th
posal of body waste is no prob- ace c O s.
. The pads are treated with a
lem on the space trip of astro- nontoxic disinfectant that has
nauts L. Gord0n Cooper- Jr. no odor but does clean and is
and Charles Conrad Jr. lint-free.
A plastic bag with a new- Cooper and Conrad will re-
style adhesive lip is used for semble grizz_led ~ld prospectors
collection of feces The adhe- because scientISts have not
prevents the formation of bac- Fa1"nt1"ng Possible
sive provides a se~ure attach• fou_nd a way to get _
rid of
ment to the body. whiskers.
A germicide inside the bag •
t . d
eria an gas.
. After use, soiled items, toilet At Orbits' End
tissues and ,a wet towel are
placed in the bag, which tnen A B O A RD USS L A KEis sealed, rolled and stowed in
empty food container spaces. CHAMPLAIN AT SE~, Aug.
The bags will be brought 23 (UPI)-The physician for
back to earth for analysis. the Gemini 5 astronauts
Urine is disposed 01 with an aboard the recovery carrier
adaptation of the relief tube . •.
system currently used in mili- Lake ~ham~~am . s~!d , today