Gemini 9 Debriefing, 1966

This 1966 NASA file collects memoranda by Jocelyn R. Gill of the Manned Flight Experiments Office, plus related correspondence, on the scientific experiments of the Gemini IX mission. Status reports from March and June 1966 describe the zodiacal light, airglow, micrometeorite and synoptic photography experiments, and an experiments debriefing held June 16. The file also contains a congratulatory telegram to astronauts Stafford and Cernan and a Naval Research Laboratory letter on the S-9 cosmic ray experiment. It reports no unidentified objects.

From the source: Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: June 3-6, 1966, Low Earth Orbit. Gemini IX (renamed Gemini IX-A) was the seventh crewed flight of the Gemini series, launched on June 3, 1966. The mission’s primary objectives included a spacewalk and multiple scientific and medical experiments. This document, dated June 16, 1966, is a transcript of a NASA debriefing of astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. Pages 2-5 of this document contain the astronauts’ accounts of their observations of “flashing lights” and “sparkles” during the mission.

2
S- 5 & s - 6 - These were not officially carried , but Stafford
and Cernan took over 300 colored pictures using the Hasselblad
and Maur er camera . A photographic strip was taken over
Peru where weather was excellent . Some features show up ,
for example , glacial lake in the Andes which do not show on any
existing map . Peruvian embassy has been informed of this lake
which may portend for avalanch hazard to villages located below
this lake . Military plane was sent into area to investigate .
AMU - This was unsuccessful . Proves to be "too much work"
under present arrangements during EVA . It takes two hands
to control the body positioning . Hand held photography during
EVA for experiment looks out of the question at present time .
Jocelyn R. Gill