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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But the other business of acquiri.ng,is very difficult , .
Particularly with the reticle set.
11.8 Landmark Contrast
Borman We did one of these with the D- 5 photometer. We knew it
was bad, but we put the calibration needle in the full "up"
position, told the experimenter that we were doin8 this
and took the data. Nowt they will have to check it to
see how it worked.
Lovell We did :just one,
Borman We had an equipment malfunction. Right . No sense talking
about it anymore. Spacecraft control was
no problem. We accomplished all the meoha.nios of doing
it, but unfortunately the equipment we knew was mal funo-
tioning before we did it. Right?
Lovell Right you are.