Documents / Official release

Gemini 7 Technical Debriefing, 1965

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · 1965 · 222 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

Open the PDF at page 22 Original source ↗

“Lovell”60+ pages

  • p. 11 …No problems? Lovell No problems for comfort , but I was surprised when I got in the…
  • p. 12 …1.8 Visual Lovell The windows were perfeot. We had no fogging. Borman No fogging.
  • p. 13 --- .. 3 Lovell The windows were heated previousl y as a result of 51s pro bl ems…
  • p. 14 …Did you pick up any? Lovell I had the clouds, end there was a visual cue…
  • p. 15 …2.5 :ms Lovell Pressure went up to 5.5 in the initial stoppage, and it…
  • p. 16 …2.8 DCS Updates Lovell Ca.me through on schedule . Borman No problem? Lovell No trouble…
  • p. 17 7 Lovell Borman Borman Lovell Borma.n Borman Lovell I did not notice any POGO. 2…
  • p. 18 …2.15 Stagins- Lovell Well, I did not notice any smudge at the time of staging…
  • p. 19 9 Eorma.n Lovell :Borman :Borman Lovell :Borman Borman Lovell :Borman that particul ar time. 2…
  • p. 20 10 :::action 2 delta Plight did not go out a.nd it was ••• Lovell No, J…
  • p. 21 …3.2 SECO pl us 30 seconds Lovell I have the IVI readings on a. ca…
  • p. 22 …I could not hear them; and I did not even helU' spacecraft separation, but -- Lovell I…
  • p. 23 …communications, throughout the f light were superior. Lovell I was really a.mazed a.t the…
  • p. 24 …I do not believe you even rea4 the rest of them out, did you? Lovell No…
  • p. 25 15 Borman Could you identify any type of the debris? Lovell No, pieces.That is all…
  • p. 26 …they a.re easy to get to. Lovell Yes. They a.re easy to pull out…
  • p. 27 …Did you? Lovell No, the venting ca.me from some line right along the bottom edge…
  • p. 29 …nt ahead and separated, thrustil:lg dawn. Lovell We actually separated earlier than 00: 25. We…
  • p. 30 …you have to have a stable vehicle. Lovell You have to have something that illuminates the…
  • p. 31 21 Lovell Yes , but we did not do it then,did we? Did not we wait…
  • p. 32 …wire came forward and slapped the spacecraft. Lovell That is where I stopped. :Sor.man Yes…
  • p. 33 …t sure that it was just fuel. Lovell I think the ground people thought that this…
  • p. 34 24 Lovell As a .matter of fact, why don't we get out the flight plan…
  • p. 35 25 work we did without suits on. Lovell Right. We took the s/c out of…
  • p. 36 …didn't cause a:n:y problems. Lovell They wanted to pump up and make sure…
  • p. 37 …few f or the crew status reports. Lovell I did 60 pulls on the arms and…
  • p. 38 …proper stars in .making a gross adjustment. Lovell I think it was an excellent idea to…
  • p. 39 …primarily in left yaw and left roll. Lovell There are two things in the s/c…
  • p. 40 …nce of the Cryo bottles was fantastic. Lovell That was one thing we were worried about…
  • p. 41 …t o BYPASS and changing some switches. Lovell Evaporator heat on. Borman Put the evaporator heat…
  • p. 42 …the exit from the water boiler vent. Lovell There were only two problems that we really…
  • p. 43 …batteries. Lovell To conserve the squib batteries for the r etrofire period. Borman Right. Lovell Because…
  • p. 44 . 34 :Borman Lovell :Borman Lovell :Sorms..n Lovel l :Borm&n :Sorman Lovell :Sorman Lovell 5…
  • p. 45 …f orward thrust at t hat time. Lovell Yes . Borman It was really a good thud…
  • p. 46 …Didn't you Jim? Lovell Well, it was different from what I had expected because we…
  • p. 47 37 Borman • Lovell BormA.n Lovell Borman Lovell 'Borman Lovel 1 Borman Sheparn. Lovell l3omP.n…
  • p. 48 Lovell Bonnan Lovell Bom"'n J,ove) 1 Borman Lovell "'Borman T,ovell That ' s a…
  • p. 49 …Di d it light up the horizon pretty hadl~r? Lovell H WfW real ly r…
  • p. 50 …but we go t an auto retrofire . Lovell Yeah, because the first one fired before I…
  • p. 51 …ADAPrER , the ADAPI'ER , or the RETROPACK . Lovell No , I didn't see any of that…
  • p. 52 …work on the gro-.md ' s part. Lovell It looks like the initial computation of retrofire…
  • p. 53 …got the horizon first on your side. Lovell Yes, the horizon ca.me up first on…
  • p. 55 …ra.nge wu vecy sm.e.11 ~• Lovell There -was a bias in the dow ra…
  • p. 56 Lovell Yes. Borman During the later part of it I started out in PULSE Mode and…
  • p. 57 …nd I was watching the ba.11. Lovell That's one thing that no one had…
  • p. 58 …6.6 50K Feet Lovel l Wel l, didn't you turn off the RCS? Borm8Jl…
  • p. 59 …We don't have readings on that . Lovell Okay, because I'm sure we did more…
  • p. 60 …Borman Acid, eh? Lovell Yes. Really burned my eyes. My eyes were watering when I finP…
  • p. 61 …that was ripped or frayed or anything. Lovell It was a good chl1te . Borman Perf ect…
  • p. 62 …Cats weren't working or some thing. Lovell Air Boss should have called back a.nd…
  • p. 63 …go t hrough this complicated, long check. Lovell We had both pl8l'llled, that what we…
  • p. 64 …ldn ' t find the horizon any way. Lovell We got called up from the MCC Borman…
  • p. 65 55 Lovell Borman Lovell Borman Lovell BoI'J'llan Love11 Borman Lovell Borman Lovell we hit…
  • p. 66 …Borman The checklists were all right then as far as you 're con- cerned? Lovell Yes…
  • p. 67 …hear d us conf irm main chute. Lovell I've often wondered about t ha t…
  • p. 68 58 Lovell Boman J.ovel l Boman LoveJl Boman Lovell Borman cross range . Did you have…
  • p. 69 …Borman And then you turned off squib batteries land 2 also didn't you? Lovell I…
  • p. 70 …Borman The main chute was perf ect . Lovell Looked beaut iful . Borr.tan I coul d…
  • p. 71 61 any or hear any. Lovell I did not see a:ny leaks. Borman Electrical Power…
  • p. 72 62 Lovel l I wouldn't want to sit in there with our suits on. 13onnan…
12
Borman 17, 30, and 20. There might have been a 13, 17, a.nd 20...
Lovell About what the numbers ca.me up with.
Borman Spacecraft separation. We separated with minimum delay be
tween thrusting and Spacecraft SEP. Jim actuated the space
craft separation. I did not hear the thrusters firing. I
could not hear them; and I did not even helU' spacecraft
separation, but --
Lovell I heard Spacecraft SEP, but I o·ould not hear the thrusters
firing. But you told me you were firing the thrusters--
Borman I ea.id th.rusting a.nd SEIP Spacecraft a.nd we did it and away
we went. I thrusted for about 2 seconds. Almost immedi
ately, as soon as we had £inished thrusting, I started a
yaw right 180°, and the rates were right around, I think
a.round --Of course, you should be able to pick this up off
telemetry, but I would estimate they were 3° to 4° per
second turning around. As soon as I ha.d the booster in
sight, I thrueted be.ck 5 seconds. This is the way we tried
in silllulations, The simulations in St. Louis were excellent.
Lovell Turned out that was the best technique to use, 2 seconds
for the 2 seconds forward a.nd a 5 second return.
Borman We turned around a.nd there it was, bigger than the devil!
Lovell At that distance there was no problem staying in there.
Borman Now, I did have some problem because the booster was bending

Cases discussed

About this file

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.