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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Cooper
COt◄ FtDEt-ctflM:
out of it again. I'd leave the darn IR gear running
for a while and we would never get near anyt hing
we could look at .
We never did get that end of the sun picture and
yet the sun wa s in our eyes every time you would
turn around. When t hey would give us some of these
locations to photograph and gave us pointing
informa tion, it was good. When we had a platform
to use , I think , their pointing information was
extremely accurate . I was well pleased with it .
I thought it wa s right on t he money, We never had
a plat form to work from so we couldn' t evaluate
the air-to-air, The air-to- ground was quite good.
And you need this .
COl>4FIDE ►~TIAE