Gemini 5 Launch - Flight Director Loop

Video from the channel lunarmodule5 about Gemini V, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 21:36. Language: English. Video type: Launch.

The video brings together the flight director loop audio during the Gemini 5 launch, with Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad, mixed in stereo with the air-to-ground channel. It is accompanied by NASA and U.S. National Archives film and photographs, plus sequences recreated by the channel with a simulator. It lets you hear how each console at the Houston control center tracked the ascent and the insertion into orbit.

Before liftoff, the voice and communication circuits between the consoles are checked, inertial guidance system updates are enabled, and the range safety officer confirms that the ground station is green. The Houston capcom tests the air-to-ground link with the crew, the prevalves are opened, the launch vehicle switches to internal power, and the range gives clearance for launch. After the final count, ignition and liftoff occur, and the mission elapsed time clock starts at 13:59:59. During the first stage, telemetry arrives very noisy. The guidance console reports that the trajectory is running somewhat high due to a combination of wind and a slightly low pitch program, with no consequences. After stage separation, the second-stage thrust and both guidance systems are given a go. In the final status check, all consoles respond favorably, and Houston tells Gemini 5 that it is go.

Once in orbit, the Bermuda station is asked to switch to backup telemetry due to loss of modulation. The retro console gives a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 16 seconds, which the capcom relays to the crew, with a reading mix-up that is quickly cleared up. The capcom also explains to the crew that, during powered flight, real-time telemetry had to be switched to the backup transmitter because of the noise, and asks them to leave it that way. The astronauts reply that they noticed a lot of pogo effect during the ascent.