Documents / Official release
Gemini 5 Technical Debriefing, Part I, 1965
National Aeronautics and Space Administration · 1965 · 223 pages · text from the file's own layer
This is a preliminary transcript of the Gemini V (GT-5) flight crew debriefing, prepared by NASA's Spacecraft Operations Branch, Flight Crew Support Division, and dated September 1, 1965. It records Cooper and Conrad's operational account from the debriefing held August 30 to September 1, 1965 at Cape Kennedy. Topics include countdown, window fogging, POGO vibration, fairing jettison debris, radio loss, reentry and recovery. Visual sightings are left for a later part of the debriefing.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: August 2 - September 2, 1965, Cape Kennedy, Florida. This document is a preliminary transcript (Part I) derived from voice recordings of the Gemini 5 flight crew technical debriefing. NASA conducted this debriefing between August 30, 1965, and September 2, 1965, at the Crew Quarters, Cape Kennedy, Florida.
“Cooper”60+ pages
- p. 6 1
1 .0 COUNTDOWN
1.1 Crew Insertion
Cooper The crew insertion , I thought, went very…
- p. 7 2
Cooper
1.6 Sounds
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
1. 7 Vibration
Cooper
right away. I…
- p. 8 …Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD REP
Conrad
Cooper /
Visual . Nothing....
Oh , yes…
- p. 9 …wor se when
they lowered the erector .
Cooper It didn't make it go away all…
- p. 10 5
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad,.
Okay , how about the time you spent…
- p. 11 6
2.1 Lif t Off Cues
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FtE>ENTI L
2…
- p. 12 …2 Roll Program
Conrad
Cooper
7C.(&)Hft0ENTI:,\~~au, !to
our sight as we were lifting off…
- p. 13 8
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
2. 3 Pitch Program
Cooper
2. 4 Aerodynamic
Cooper
progressi…
- p. 14 …5 ECS
Conrad
Cooper
Conr ad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
2 . 7 Wind Shear
Cooper
2 . 8…
- p. 15 …2, 10 POGO
Cooper
Conrad
(
Cooper
It was beautiful. Just now in between engine 1
operation…
- p. 16 11
i t
Conrad
RCSD REP
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
edge of reading…
- p. 17 …11 Engine 2 Status
Cooper Engine 2 status stayed ... was perfect . There was
not anything wrong…
- p. 18 13
Cooper BECO was right on the money .
..
2 . 14 Staging
Conrad Boy, that staging was…
- p. 19 14
2.16 RGS Initiate
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD REP
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
•
starts burning…
- p. 20 …That booster was in
pitch and yaw as far as that went
Cooper Those rate needles…
- p. 21 …of putting
it back to after insertion.
Cooper Well, it ' s supposed to go off askew…
- p. 22 …I can't put my finger on it, but --
Cooper It came off in many pieces…
- p. 23 18
Conr ad
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD REP
they were not there before they were t'nere…
- p. 24 19
Cooper There ' s a whole fly . Oh, you mean the debris . It
was gone .
Conrad…
- p. 25 …l8 GO/NO GO
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
GO/NO GO: We…
- p. 26 …19 Systems Status
Cooper System Status everything .. . .
Conrad We did have ... Let me describe the delta…
- p. 27 22
Conrad
Cooper
2. 21 Steering
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD REP
Conrad
Cooper
I…
- p. 28 Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
3 ,1 Post SECO
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
23~IE>l!NTtAE…
- p. 30 …I' ve been
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Cooper
Conrad
t rying to make tbis pein-t-ewe…
- p. 31 26 CONF:10ENT-IA
Cooper We separated as smooth as silk just r i ,5ht straight…
- p. 32 ..
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD REP
FHID~Nf lAL 27…
- p. 33 28
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Hey, that's…
- p. 34 …Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
ONEl0EtslJl~E
wrong.
We really had good comm…
- p. 35 …3.3 Insertion Activities
Cooper Okay, l et ' s start on inser tion activities. SAFE
t…
- p. 36 …Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
.kQt4FIDfNJ1A.L,
trouble getting my D-ring in, did you…
- p. 37 32
Cooper
Conrad
were never up .
to reenter
lready decided
t hat I was not going…
- p. 38 FtDENTtAL 33
Cooper Okay, belts . I couldn ' t ~~he
belts . The harness - While we 're on…
- p. 39 Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
took my harness off in flight twice . I took…
- p. 40 …adjustments see--
Cooper Okay, well .
Conrad Where you coul d make the legstraps loose but you…
- p. 41 Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
ment and on that same fitting you have the little…
- p. 42 …have had a place to stow it .
Cooper Right .
Conrad But the other thing is that…
- p. 43 …4.0 Orbital Flight
Cooper Okay, on 4 . 0 Orbital Fli ht . Platform Alinement.
Conrad There…
- p. 44 …did get back to using it again .
Cooper Well, we had other control system problems which…
- p. 45 …You went to
SEF and caged and SEF and Platform Control Mode,
Cooper We pitched down…
- p. 46 …Conrad
FCSD Rep
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
41•
Or more .
In other words , it continued…
- p. 47 …FCSD Rep How long did you aline the Platform initially?
Cooper Initially, we alined the platform…
- p. 48 …ve never heard
from the other guys .
Cooper Now there ' s another thing. See, we never…
- p. 49 -----
44 •
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
draw up on a piece of paper what the window , what the…
- p. 50 …FCSD Rep Did you ever go back to Primary after that?
Cooper Oh . We checked it…
- p. 51 …to find out what happened on that ,
Cooper Yes , something was really fouled up , I think…
- p. 52 Cooper
FCSD Rep
Cooper
FCSD Rep
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
ee,~FID El…
- p. 53 48
FCSD Rep
Cooper
Conrad
-
This Perigee adjust. Did you do that i::1 Rate- is…
- p. 54 ..
FCSD Rep
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD Rep
Conrad
Cooper
Cooper
Conrad
We were at the power…
- p. 55 50
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD Rep
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
:JI
bat we…
- p. 56 …Cooper
Conrad
FCSD Rep
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
FCSD Rep
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad…
- p. 57 52 L
Cooper
Conrad
FCSD REP
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
l ight blinks Green/OFF, Green…
- p. 58 …s
when the scanner started going out ,
Cooper That's when the scanner started dropping out…
- p. 59 Conrad
FCSD REP
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
It ' s really a grey area.
Right…
- p. 60 55
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad ,
/
\
..
Yeah.
But you add one little failure in there and you ' ve…
- p. 61 C
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
@OMFIBEt4t4A.L
decided that something wasn't…
- p. 62 …Conrad It kept right on going straight out, and-
Cooper It wasn't slowing down very…
- p. 63 C
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad.
See, the REP went straight out and…
- p. 64 Cooper
"
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
59eNftOf
We never got the point where it…
- p. 65 60
Cooper
Conrad
:But you did go back to the AUTO.
Yeah . I put ii; back…
- p. 66 r
~ ENTI~ - 61
Cooper So we said okay and we ' re stopping it right here and…
116
Conrad
Cooper
Conrad
Let ' s see at 14:15, day 4, D-4, D- 7 ,
410c.
D- 4 , D- 7 , 410c was--that•s one of the
ones where we were supposed to track
a star or something--yeah , we were
supposed to track Nunki and we never
could find it because it was--
It was up in first, early--
It was up early-- we had troubln with
that . That ' s another thing I could have
recommended those gu:ys--we got enough
to do in the spacecraft not to worry
about setting up the star chart and
figuring out from the- -somethir..g you
can ' t do from the star chart is figure
out a pitch and yaw angle and the
grormd ' s got that information up the
kazoo, so on any of these ones where
they want you to photograph some stars
or anything else-you' ve got to platform
up again - the easiest thing to do is
send up a pitch and yaw with it and
that just takes all the work out of it
Not linked to a story yet.
About this file
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 223 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.