Gemini 7 Technical Debriefing, 1965

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43
6.2 400K
Borma.n
Spacecraft attitude a.t 400,000 feet wa.s difficult to deter­
mine.
We di dn't h.a.ve & horizon until we were below 350,000
feet, a.nd I was having & lot of trouble trying to find it.
Jim, you got the horizon first on your side.
Lovell
Yes, the horizon ca.me up first on my side. Well, we did not
have it right at 350 ,000 feet, but we coul d look out be­
tween RCS firings and see the air glow, if you'd stuck your
face right up there and look out. But when you're doing the
reentry on the instruments you have the lights up so, one
guy ca.n't do it, you have to have two guys; one to look out
and find out where the horizon is and--
Borman
That was a heck of a thing. I'd like to be a.ble to cross
check between the balls and the horizon once in a while to
make sure that I knew exactly where we were.
As it tu.med
out this was a completely instrument reentry.
We fina.lly
found the horizon &nd Jim would tell me yes, it's about in
t he right pl&ce.
But I just watched the ball. And I think
that it would be vecy difficult t o back up a reentry by
watching out the window.
One person could provide backup
guidance for you, and tell