Gemini 4 Experiment Debriefing, 1967

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Astronauts Track Missile in Space
In 'Typical Day' Aboard Gen1ini 5
By Howard Simons
and appeared to have mas- man missile from Vandenberg
Washllliton Po•t Slat! Writer
tered the temperature-regu- Air Force Base in California.
HtOULSTOGN, dAug.C24-ASlJro- lating mechanism, which
nau s
.
or on
ooper
r.
. .
th
and
Charles
Conrad
Jr. g1vmg them
e chills
spotted, tracked and photo- c_auslng then:i to shiver,
graphed a Minuteman inter- tlcularly durmg sleep.
was
'Ihe 65-foot Minuteman was
and launched at 12:37 a.m. (EDT),
par- as part of a missile combat
crew training mission. Shortly
continental ballistic
missile
AStronaut Ja_mes McDivitt after the ICB 1 was off the
launched from California to- ~alled ~t a "typical" day, dur-
.
day as their Gemini 5 space- mg which the astronauts were pad Conrad spotted it. .
craft orbited the earth.
catching up with their experi-
The Minuteman was flying
"I see it, I see it!" Conrad ments. Some of these were a path 155 statute miles north
shouted
as
the
missile succ"ssful; Others were not.
of Gemini 5' path. The point
streaked through space on its
Cooper had repaired his of closest approach to the
way to a watery target in the faulty reticle, or gunsight, spacecraft was 201 miles. At
Pacific.
which helped the astronauts the time Conrad and Cooper
For two minutes the astro- better to pinpoint targets in tracked the missile, they were
nauts watched the Minuteman. space .and on the ground. 125 miles above the earth'sc; sur-
Conrad took six pictures of Hence, they took a beat-sens- face.
it. At the same ti~e, an _in- ing measm:emenJ of the star Questions Rai ed
!rared or heat-sensmg device Deneb, which they were un­
recorded the kind and amount able to do the day before. The
The fact that the hcat-sens­
of heat being emitted by the astronauts also have photo- ing measurements and the
solid-fueled ICBM-a thousand graphed the mysterious zodia- photographs
of
Minuteman
of which constitute the bulk cal light, which is thought to and other targets are being •
of America's strategic nuclear be a backscattering of light conducted for the J:?efense De•
punch.
from dust orbiting the earth. part~ent has raised some
Conrad and Cooper con-
.
.
questions here.
tinue to circle the earth in Trouble m Spotting
The problem,
essentially,
their fourth day. They have
Attempts to see giant 2000x seems_ to be th_is:
already been granted permis- 2000-foot eye charts on the
~a!,i~nal policy h:is cast the
sjon to continue their journey ground near Laredo
Tex activities of the National Aero­
for anoU1er day and Gemini have been less successful. Ai: 11:aut~cs and Space ~dministra­
ojficials see no current prob- though they could see smoke tio~ m a peaceful light. _Great
lems that might foreshorten from smoke pots set out to care h~~ been taken to divorce
an eight-day mission. If all help t!lem pinpoint the Laredo the m~li~3!Y aspects of space
goes well, the astronauts will charts, they first missed the from ci~illan program, notably ,
pass the four-day mark at charts altogether and then saw sp;ie f/;t~t e:~orr
.
r o u g h 1 y
10
a.m. •(EDT) two that they misidentified.
.
e
n ° m ormat10n be-
Wednegday.
More visible to the orbiting mg ~athered by Cooper a~d
"
"
"
.
.,
sightseers were contrails from Con~ad. does have po~~nbal
Dull and Typical
three airplanes near Jackson- application for the nuhtarr.
Today was
variously de- ville, Fla., "and all the streets
The challenge, t~erefore, 18
"b d
"d ll" ''t · l" ·n ·t (J k
-11 )
d th Whether the Nat10n should
sen e
a~
u ,
yp1ca, i
1
ac sonv1 e , an
e preclude all m"lit
• tT
and "busy "
Cape (Kennedy) and all the
-
•
d
t l\".
•.,
Flight Surgeo_n Ch a r le s way
own o ~m~u.
Berry charactenzed the day
But the experiment that
as "dull,'' which he explained caused the most excitement
is "a good day" medically. was the successful tracking by
The astronauts were "alert" the astronauts of the Minute­
.
. i ary sei_en 1 ic
and engmeermg expenments
from
ASA's activities
•
Chronology of astronauts'
fourth, day in orbit.
Page AIO.
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