Gemini 9 Debriefing, 1966

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As for other astronomical phenomena during your flight, the meteor plot for the year shows May as being a slim month compared to August. Nonetheless you may see some meteors and we will be interested to hear your report after flight. Auroras and airglow patches are unpredictable. If you see any, we would like you to record the time and your location and any features, such as color or shape or structure. Labeled sketches can be very useful for later analysis. You will find a print showing types of auroras among the enclosures with this memo.

Among the four 8x10 glossy prints which I am attaching to this memo, you will find one which illustrates types of auroras. All the prints enclosed are identified on the sheets attached to each print. The photo of the solar eclipse shows the dahlia-type corona which occurs at the maximum of the solar cycle. This annular eclipse discussed above will not show the corona since the sun has to be completely blotted out to show the pale coronal light.

Another item that should be mentioned is comets. I am not aware of any comet such as Ikeya-Seki which was seen last October-November being around just now, but one never knows when one may put in appearance. Should you happen to be looking at the sky near the sun just after sunset or before dawn and see a comet, please record the time, appearance, and an estimate of its position. The position is best given with respect to planets or stars you can see. This information should then be promptly reported either to me or to the Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge 38, Massachusetts.

Very best wishes for a highly successful flight. I shall be following it closely. After flight we will be most interested in anything you can tell us about it. Again, good luck to the Gemini IX Mission which is full of important operations and some interesting experiments. See you in Houston!

Jocelyn R. Gill

Jocelyn R. Gill
Manned Flight Experiments Office

Attachments: 4 glossy prints

cc: SM/Mr. Foster ✓ MSC/Major Lehr ✓ ESSA/Dr. Roach ✓
GSFC/Mr. Dunkelman ✓ MSC/Mr. Slayton ✓ MSC/Mr. McKee ✓
MSC/Cdr. Carpenter ✓

SM:JRGill:kby 20611 5/12/66