Documents / Official release
This is a preliminary Part II transcript of the Gemini 5 (GT-5) flight crew debriefing, prepared by the Spacecraft Operations Branch of NASA's Flight Crew Support Division and dated September 2, 1965. It records astronauts Cooper and Conrad at the Crew Quarters, Cape Kennedy. They discuss how the spacecraft systems worked, including the platform and the OAMS thruster failures. The transcript also covers operational checks, visual sightings, experiments, training, premission planning, and medical aspects. It was originally classified Confidential.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: August 30 - September 2, 1965, Cape Kennedy, Florida. This document is a preliminary transcript (Part II) 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. Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad described observing debris and “snow” and “all sorts of glittering pieces of this, that and the other thing” in the “Visual Sightings” section of the document (pages 157-220).
“Sumatra”1 page
CO~◄ F18 E~ fFh't-l - ,.. 350 feet away from the booster . You can see ground level, and we were going to use that procedure if we aborted. We didn't know if we were going to make a land or a water landing, but we f elt t hat we could use the mirror to see if we were over water or over land, at least within 350 feet of the space craft in the direction of the windows . J didn't use the mirror on the water landing out c~er Bermuda, because I oould see the water out of the corner of the window by just putting my head up and peering at it - - in the two-point attitude. I could see the water coming. I knew we were fairly low . As a matter of fact, that altimeter was just about on the money, wasn 1 t it? Conrad We were at just about zero feet when we hit the water . We had a good altimeter setting. Cooper Almost exactly zero feet. Conrad Th.is is what McDivitt said. Don't go on that 29 . 92 . They gave us a 30 . 10 altimeter setting, and when it read zero we were on the water. Cooper Yes, that was a real good one. Conrad So , I recommend they stick with this -- giving the altimeter setting in the recovery area be,~ause it can make the difference of a co~ le of hundred f eet . '€01'1FtDEl"~TIAt
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 325 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.