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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the booster station keeping we did observe the
ablati ve skirt on the engine. At one time it
appeared that there were two poi nts right at the
edge of the skirt that might have been rolled in. It
looked like maybe there were two approximately twelve
inch sections that might have been rolled in. It
may have been shadows cast off the booster. By
and large, I would say that the engine looked
very well.
Lovell To me the engine looked brand new. It had a gold
cast to it. It looked perfectly good to me.
Borman I did not notice any venting out o~ the roll nozzle,
which is unusual. We thought the venting came out
of the relief for the PSV valve on the side of
the booster. We just discussed this with the
Martin people. They were a little surprised to hear
this. The venting we saw came out ninety degrees
to the longitudinal axis of the booster.
Lovell It looked like it came out r i ght at the edge of the
tank.
Borman And this is the Pressure Sequencing Valve drain.
And the next one is, "If so, what was its condition?"
It looked great. "Did you get pictures?" Yes,