Documents / Official release
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.
U . S . NAVAL RESEARCH L AB O RATORY WASH INGTON , D. C. 20390 Code 7020 21 June 1966 Dr . Homer E. Newell Associate Administrator Space Science and Applications National Aeronautics and Space Ad.ministration Washington, D. c. 20546 Dear Homer : First, in behalf of the NRL- GSFC collaborators in Gemini Experiment S- 9, I want to express deep gratification at t he strong int erest in and concern for the success of our experiment shown by you and by Dr . George Mueller . The substantial help that both of you and your associates in NASA have given us is much appreciated. The proposal to include two high- altitude orbits in the flight plan for Gemini mission XI has been carefully examined by physicists at MSC Houston, as well as by our joint NRL- Goddard group . At a meeting in my office yester day with officials from NASA Headquarters and from MSC , Houston, we agreed that the S- 9 experiment would not be hurt if the flight plan included t wo elliptic orbits bavine an altitude of 75 0 nautical miles at apogee (approxi mately over Australia ) during the 26th and 27th orbits . Our emulsion stack apparatus would be retrieved from the retroadapter section during the first EVA , and stored inside the Gemini capsule in a manner suggested by Messrs . Joseph Lill and Peter Higgins of MSC, with an orientation that would minimize the effect s of background radiation incident on the window face of the package . In short, we believe that the proposed high- altitude orbits are compatible with the S- 9 experiment . May I digress t o say that we in the NRL group are looking forward to favorable consideration by the Manned Space Flight Experiments Board of our recent Apollo proposals for cosmic- ray studies outside the magnetosphere , and for observations of cosmic y- rays in earth- orbiting Apollo vehicles . With warm regards , Sincerely, J.><urice 1:!3hief Scientist Laboratory for Cosmic Ray Physics Principal Investigator, s- 9) P . S. A list of those attending the meeti ng in my office yesterday is attached. In an earlier meeting several weeks ago , we benefited from participation by ✓ Astronauts Charles Conrad and William Anders . )\ ~ ~ff' I • ~ cc : Dr . George Mueller Mr . Leroy To.y ~ , r<"
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 78 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.