Gemini 5 Technical Debriefing, Part II, 1965

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).

11 6 C:@ l ◄ i IOLN IiAt -
around the side . That is what i t amounts t o .
Cooper Yes.
Conrad We never had any t r ouble with them when w1~ put on a
new one . The new one would l ast about a day before
i t would start getting gummy . We t ried everything
to keep them clean.
Cooper It would get gummy.
Conrad ... wipe on them and we left them unrolled so that
t hey would dry out.
Cooper The rubber gets so gummy you can put the t wo together
and they j ust stick together. It gets all gummy and
sticky. It may be a better material is available .
Conrad I still think i ts the urine t hat does i t .
Cooper Tha t ' s what I'm saying. There may be a better material
available tha t the urine won ' t effect that way . The
urine is eating into that latex--its late~ rubber ,
I suspect . Either carry more good ones al ong or
get a better materi al to use . That should have been
evaluated by CSD. They should have determined that
urine does effect them and makes them go to pieces
in a hurry.
Conrad Yes , I ' m not sure they don ' t even wash then out
occasionally.
..