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).

190
than I needed. I had to be very careful to just
put a little teensy tweak in to damp the rates.
Later on, as we got on down, maybe half way
through the g pulse area, the rates began to in
crease in amplitude and in frequency . J still
was able to handle them very adequately. No
problem at all on tweaking the rates out on
pitch and yaw. However, at about this I1eriod
of time, it began to take so much time t o switch
back and forth from rate to attitude and get the
rates damp that I was getting concerned about the
math flow guidance in here and making sure I
stayed on it. At this point then, probably half
way through or somewhere on down through the
l atter part of the reentry, I just switched over
to the ACME position and allowed the RCS rate
command t o damp the rates . Then, I wouli reach
over and check the rat es once in a while to see
how it was damping. But, then, I could concentrate
on purely attitude .and just fly this same single
ring attitude control. It left me plent,v of
attitude control . Never once when I cheJked the
rates were the rate needles ever off zer). It