Gemini 4 Experiment Debriefing, 1967

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f
] 0 Fednudoy, Au,. 25, 1965 THE
HowItWenton Gemini's4thDay
On thew Gemini 5 spa.ce- 43d Orbit--4:50 a.m.
landmarks near Dallas was
The astronauts said they
flight 11eaterda11, Aatronauts
The spacecraft made contact abandoned because of a cloud took about six photographs of
t . Gordon Coopff Jr. and with the Camarvan, Australia cover ov1.>r the target area, but th
fl.yin
rocket
d
ad
Charl'1s Conrad Jr. sighted a tracking station and flight ot>'. the astronauts insisted on try.
e
g
an
m e
Minuteman
launching
and server Chuck Lewis g
th Ing
the
experiment
later. infrared measuremenw of Its
repaired an important sight- astronauts landing
/ve f "We're going to pick a good exhaust plume.
ing q,tem aboard their craft. ment data
an expcr • site somewhere over the U •
Conrad a~ spotted Hollo-
Following i., a chronological
•
and get it because we're all man Air Forte Base,
.M., and
account. 111 compiled from
th Orbil-6:27 a.m.
ri~~i~r !!;~~nr:e'!x,S::!i a e:e w~~1J°!:r f::!:'.
!'ews di,pntches,. with .times
With both astronauts wide few minutes later the men
As they ended the Ol'blt, the
1n Eaitcnt Da11light Tune.
awake and the spacecraft pass- were able to get a picture of astronauts had their radar
_.n.L Orbit
12 •05
ing o~er the United States, a ship west of Bennuda.
trained on Cape Kennedy and
....,._..
-
•
.m. Gemini Control at Houston re-
reported they were able to
The palr drifted qUletly lnto layed instrument readings and 47th Orbit-11:12 a.m. keep in touch with ~ Cape
the 40th orbit with Conrad e periment directions to the
A G
I 1,.
h d C l longer than expected.
crew.
s em n ., approac e
a•
a leep. Dr. Duana Catterson at
This exchange between com• lfom!a, a Minuteman missile 48th Orbit-12:47 p.m.
Gemini Control in Houston municator David Scott
an was fired from Vandenberg Ir
reported the astroriauta bad astronaut. and Conrad 'took Force Base. Calif.
Cooper and Conrad zeported
place·
At an altitude of' 125 miles, they were getting "•om e
consumed 13 pounds of water
Se~tt-"Okay. You look real Cooper and Conrad got a fine strange readouts" from their
each, "pretty nearly an optl· good here on the ground. Do view.
on-board computer. Officials
mum curve for water intake" you have any questions on the
Conrad: "I see it, l see it ... said the signals were not a
• experiments?"
Hey Gordo! Right through that cause of "major concern." but
I Orbit-I :38 a.m.
Conrad-"No. I'd say we got bole In the clouds. There be would
be watched closely.
l
a full day J hope we can get goes, bigger than heck."
Cooper and Conrad finally
Conrad continued sleeping them all· done. How's the
Cooper: "Yeah, we saw him spotted the checkerboard eye
sound]y and only one contact we-ather back there in Hous- going •way out above us."
chart laid out near Laredo,
was made wltb ground track- ton?"
The Minuteman, climbing in Tex.
Ing station during the orbit.
Scot&-"Oh, It's real nice. a high suborbital arc, came
•
42 d Orb ,.......3 •14
Just hot and sunny as usual. within 200 miles of Gemini 5,
9th Orbit-2.22 p.m.
D
it
•
a.m. No rain in particular. Just Space Agency officials said.
Space off I c i a Is on the
The quietest orbit or the once in a whUe a little thunder-
Conrad reported he sighted ground noted Cooper sounded
I night thus far, in terms of storm."
the Minuteman 10 seconds "Just a wee bit tired." He was
space. to. ground communica-
onrad-"Rog.''
after launch when it had given a long updating on the
Uon. For a '70-minute period
tt-"Say, we've noticed pierced the overcast. The Min- flight plan and waa told to
the spacecraft was out of voice that the temperature up there uteman peaked at an altitude watch for the Kilauea volcano
contact range. Conrad was still is a little cooler than we ex• of 575 miles and headed down in Hawaii on the next orbit.
asleep and Cooper bad a meal. pectcd. How's your comfort?" the Air Force western test The astronauts hoped to meas­
Cooper aaid he had reassem-
onnd-"Cold, We a.re tak• range over the Pacific Ocean ure the Intensity or infrared
bled a defective reticle "and It ing the inlet hoses off' our to hit a mythical targel
radiation from the volcano.
worts fine," The reticle ls a suits every once in a while to
sighting device necessary for warm up. It has been quite
tbe success of a number of cold."
Gemini 5 experiments.
Chief Flight Director Chrl •
topher Kraft Jr. said good
t ==========:__-::- morning to the astronaut and
told them, "You are doing a
good job up there."
Conrad-"l'll tell you one
thing, Mr. Krall Gordo' beard
is white.
Kraft-''A Rip
an Winkle,
eh?"
Conrad: -
"Nope, Santy
Claus."
Cooper-"Boy, putting those
two coolant loops in the circuit
really cooled it down. We both
have been sitting here shiver­
ing for the last few hours."
Kralt--"Tum the valve to
warm and it ill shut off the
flow completely. We will mon­
itor on the ground and let you
know lf it gets too cool"
45th Orbit-8:03 a.m.
Cooper bad a meal consisting
of orange dnnk. spaghetti and
meat, butterscotch pudding,
touted brea:t cubes and cbeeee
sandwiches. He said he saw
three airplanes approaching
Jacksonville, Fla. He and Con•
rad saw smoke signals sent up
near Laredo, Tex., to help them
find a huge pattern of white
gypsum )aid out on the ground,
but the)ll could not see the pat­
tern. Fellow astronaut James
McDivitt told the men they
could go at leut 82 orbits.
46th Orbit-9:35 a.m.
An attempt to photograph