Documents / Official release
This is a preliminary transcript of the Gemini 7 technical debriefing, dated December 23, 1965, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was made from tape recordings of the crew debriefing held December 19 to 21, 1965 at the Crew Quarters, Cape Kennedy, Florida. In it, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell go through countdown, powered flight, insertion, station keeping with the booster, systems, experiments and training. The table of contents also lists a section on visual sightings during orbital flight.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: December 19-21, 1965, Cape Kennedy, Florida. This document is a preliminary transcript derived from voice recordings of the Gemini 7 flight crew debriefing conducted December 19-21, 1965, at the Crew Quarters, Cape Kennedy, Florida. Lights and flashes are mentioned and there is discussion about having proper illumination for vehicle docking. Borman and Lovell discuss celestial and terrestrial observational anomalies and note sightings of Mercury, meteors, aurora, and lightning. They also discuss not being able to see any stars once the Sun comes up.
“Cairo”2 pages
131 Borman The reception on HF during the fl i ght was very poor. Lovell Right. 10.0 VISUAL SIGHTINGS 10.1 Countdown Borman We did not have any visual s i ghtings. No wasps, bees, bugs, or anyth:iJlg in the spacecraft. 10.2 Powered flight Borman I did not look out at l i ft- off. Lovell I think we went throu,gh clouds , didn't we? We went through an overcast. FCSD rep I t looked like Frank steered i t right through a hol e in the overcast. Lovell Could anyone see us after we went through the overcast? Or was that the end of i t? FCSD rep No, the hole was big enough so that you were in sight. Lovell Could you see staging? FCSD rep No, you dis&ppeared from sight before staging. Borman At BECO the spa.cecra.ft was enveloped. in a yellow flame. BECO &nd sta.ging &re so cl ose that you cannot tell the difference. Engine 2 ignition was very smooth, no noise, no bang.1.ng. The horizon ca.me into view just like the simulator. Ve-ry, very adequate presentation. At SECO I did not notice a thing, just & stop and a oessa.tion of noise. I did not see
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 222 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.