Gemini IX June 3, 1966
Video from the channel The Technicolor Whiscash about Gemini IX-A, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 59:48. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.
What it shows
Post-flight press conference for the Gemini 9 mission (GT-9A), in which astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan discuss the film shot on board. It opens with NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans, who announces the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for both crew members. Stafford and Cernan review the failed launch attempts: first, the failure of the Atlas rocket that was to place the Agena target into orbit; then, the failure to update the onboard computer with the replacement target, the ATDA (Augmented Target Docking Adapter), already in orbit. They then describe the three orbital rendezvous, Cernan's extravehicular activity, reentry and recovery, and answer reporters' questions.
When and where it was filmed
The press conference took place in Houston, at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, during the post-flight debriefing period, in 1966. It is interspersed with NASA footage: the ATDA in orbit, the spacewalk, reentry and splashdown next to the aircraft carrier USS Wasp.
Context
The ATDA's protective shroud had not released: its release lanyards were installed but not connected. That prevented docking and left the open jaws that gave the target its "alligator" appearance. Even so, the crew completed three rendezvous. In the first, all of the braking was done at night. The second is presented as the first purely optical rendezvous with a passive target, calculated by hand by Cernan without the computer. The third, from a higher orbit, simulated the lunar module's profile and confirmed that radar is essential. During the spacewalk, the effort to hold position without adequate handholds saturated the suit's life-support system and fogged the visor. For that reason, the test of the AMU maneuvering unit was abandoned. Among the lessons cited are the need for proper handholds and restraint systems and for a propulsion system to move between vehicles. A final lift correction allowed the capsule to splash down very close to the Wasp.