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.
“Gemini 4”11 pages
Cops . t o A.Liccardi, A Frandsen , Eldon Hall
-DRAFT - exped~ !
3/3'/.66l eady for final
Memo to ill oster
From : J . . G-ill
Subject : Status of tibmti:Kixll cientif'ic tOSSA) xperiments on Gemini IX
The f ollowing scientific exper iments are scheduled for 'emini lX : S- 1 ,
Zodiacal Light Photogrophy; S- 10, icrometeorite Collecti on on gena ;
Horizon
S- 11, irglo /Photo .raphy ; -12 , · crometeorite Collection on emini, r elated
t o S- 10; and Dim Light hotography being presented to SSC as S- 28 on
F'ri day , arch 4 , 1966 . lL. Dunkelman, USFC ).
S- l : Zodiacal Light Phot ography •. Ney . Oniv. of inn .
Astronaut briefin , ey reports that one briefing has been held in
ouston and another ill be scheduled for the Planetarium . Elliott See ,
Chas . assett and Jam~s L vell ere present or the f irst briefing : Tom
t fford was not . Under he circumstances , it is likely that the briefing
will have to be repeated .
·quipment , he camera equipment is now at the Cape . Do cumentat i on has
presented some problems , mainly the insistence on a new serial number f or the
camera since i t no, has a handle on it . 'l'he handl e is mounted vrith holes on
the c mera . l'ri- film will be us ed with and without t he , indov {~.
ith hatch open and us· the spa cec raft as an occulting disk , the astronaut
will pl ace himself in the shadow of the S?C and s ee how f;;r out he can trace
the extension of the sol ar coron . He ,. ill also take 4 pictures of the ai rc:-low
and a picture of the Ilky ay .
he principal investigator commented that he qas ver pleased with the
enthusiastic reception from ee and Ba ssett for the equipaent and exper:iment .
l'hey have been t he most int~ested in this experiment of all the astronauts who
have been associated ·ith it . 1:>ince '1'om Stafford has been very cooperative
in the experimental pro ram, 1 personally have confidence th · t he will pick up
where ·ee and ~assett 1ave left off, and that the experiment can go off as planned .
- 10: Micro eteorite Collection on Agena . lt employs the ~ br acket as S- 12 .
This modus opera ndi has cost more than a new design and has given much trouble .
USI (govt serve inspection) has been a problem since it was not v itten into the
contract . l'he problem is with thef iring with t he handl e in t he open position.
Lubricat ion has also been a problem since the contractor has applied i t in
11 lops" instead of f ollowing instructions . l'he experiment is all ready , so
far as equipment is concerned . Not linked to a story yet.
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.