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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14,9 Egress training
Borman Briefing, Gulf Exercise, and Survival Gear. All went
off well, We had it done on Spacecraft 4, so we only
went off in Static Article 5. We did not use the Boiler
Pl ate No, 201 and it worked out fine. We had the
helicopter pickup.
Lovell I think the helicopter pickup was well worth it though,
because i t was exactly what you do on recovery.
Might as well do it in practice.
Borman And that is strange how that got thrown in there .
That one time on Spacecraft 4, we just thought, well,
it would be nice to come back by helicopter, rather
than back by ship. And it worked out to be very
valuable as a matter of fact. I think that is good
training. I think that you should have the Gulf
exercise. No question in my mind that you should
have that,
Lovell That· is about the most realistic type training you
can possibly get.
Borman We were well trained in the use of survival gear.
Of course, I think that it is a very good idea. We
had it laid out here in the crew quarters all the time
we were down here, and we stopped in and took a. look at it ..