Gemini 7 Technical Debriefing, 1965

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.

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Sun measurement was done. That was a real interesting
one, because in order to get the Sun, we had to put
up t he polaroid lights , and wear sun glasses, and
then poi nt at it.
Lovell Hot Earth Measurement s: we had that bi g fire in Nort h
Africa tha t was there all the time. That was a t arget
of opportunity. We got Hot Earth Measurements of
t hi s f i re in Nor t;h Africa.
Borman The t ape record er was used properly. Voice recorder
usage was adequa t;e.
Flight cont rol procedure: the only time we had to do anything
a t; all different was to go to DIRECT t o pickup t hat
reentry vehi cle . The rest of the t ime it was a very
well organized, well bri efed, well t rained, a nd I
thought a well-run experi ment.
Lovell That i s r i ght . I thought i t was quite a bit of data
and work t o do in that experiment .
Borma n As a matter of fac t , I t hink the equipment on these
represented about 3½ million dollars. So it was a
pretty hefty piece of equipment .
11. 2 Star Occulation Meaw,_e~e.~-t. _(~})
Borman Now we go from the sublime to the ridiculous. The star
occulation measurement D-5. The equipment