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).

52
FCSD rep
Cooper
one time I noted the RCS Ring B was up to
80 degrees. I watched i t quite closely for
a while and then it never went beyond
that and came on back down to about 70.
And they stayed there essentia.lly the whole
flight . I think you need thoee heaters
on obviously the whole--all tt.e time--I'd
never have any of them off at all now.
Thruster firing colIDllents . When the RCS
thrusters fire at night they clank out what
ever you are l ooking at in the night side.
The only way you are going to use any night
attitude reference i s to watct. what you are
doing, get l~ned up in a reference and then
f i re a thruster and pl an on ws.iting a few
seconds before you can tel l wt.ere you are
at again . They really light t ~ the place .
When you are firing them at night .
How far does the flame stick cut?
The plume goes out about-- appear s to go out
about 4 feet and the plume is j ust the width
of the outside diameter of tha.t thruster
as i t comes out --it has a little bit of ex-
pansion ratio as it comes out and it goes
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