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).

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Conrad Even on as calm a day as that, boy, don't ever
open those hatches unless it is a dire emergency
until they've got that collar on there.
Cooper I agree.
Conrad I could see that thing going right straight to the
bottom.
Cooper I agree. Pete and I both were in complete agreement
on this.
Conrad It was as calm as you could get out there.
Cooper It was a beautiful, calm day. And even so, his
point is exactly valid. I think that if you open
up even the left hatch, which is the higher hatch,
there would be an occasional wave which would
throw water into it. I think opening those hatches
out there, even with the splash curtain, is a
real bad situation, unless you Just absolutely
have to. You are risking really filling it.
Of course, I think you can get them closed and
shut down if you start taking water on board,
but there is no sense in getting the whole inside
all smeared with salt water. However, we were
perfectly cool inside with both suit fans operat
ing when we got the repress off, the o2 high
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