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).
FCSD Rep Cooper 145E~PID[NflAL that it was the one. It was just by accident that we got the right one. Okay. Detail--which of these do you think would be best? I think you covered some of this. Well, I think that coastline is the best, distinctive features on a coastline . Next best are rivers and mountains . Probably, if you can have combinations of the rivers, mountains, and coastlines, these are quite good. A river running into a coastline and into the sea, I think, is a real excellent one. Very good. And roads- -boy, there is just no getting around it that roads make an excellent landmark area. They really show up. And a road in the right area where it is contrasty will really show up for a long, long way away , like a white concrete road and darker background, a dark green background, really shows.. And then, I guess cities show up probably the least of anything. They tend to have enough vegetation and foliage and everything and they kind of blend in. They don't reall y show. Lakes are excellent landmarks. Airports are not as good as lakes and things of this type. Airports tend to blend in a little bit. L~t•s see, color contrast--I've already covered that . Readability - -
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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.