Gemini 5

  1965-068A

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Gemini V was a long duration buildup mission. Cooper and Conrad's unofficial patch read `Eight days or bust'. Shortly after orbit insertion, a fuel cell heater failed; the spacecraft was put in a low power mode but the mission was allowed to continue. At 1613 the Radar (or Rendezvous) Evaluation Pod was ejected, but because of the power problems the radar could not be tested. A little over 1 day into the mission, Houston decided to abandon any plan to rendezvous with REP. Tests were made during a pass over Florida with a spare REP at KSC, confirming that the Gemini radar could pick up its L-band signal. On Aug 23, the craft made 5 burns over 2 hr to rendezvous with a simulated Agena target. On Aug 24 and 25, the astronauts tested their visual acuity, observing the Earth's surface. This included spotting a Minuteman missile launch. Further radar tests continued throughout the mission as the astronauts beat the Vostok-5 duration record.

For the first time the OAMS perigee lowering maneuver prior to retrofire was omitted. Retrofire was 82m/s aft and 55m/s down. Gemini V splashed down at 29 44 N 69 45 W in the Atlantic near the USS Lake Champlain, after a flight lasting 190 h 55 m 14 s.

GT-5
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1965 Aug 21	1359:59	Launch
	1402:33	T+2:34 BECO	-5936 x 128 x 32.4
	1402:33	Stage 1 sep
	1403:26	T+3:27 Horizon sensor and radar cover fairings jettisoned
	1405:32	T+5:33 SECO, Orbit insertion	162 x 349 x 32.6 (NASA)
	1405:55	T+5:56 Stage 2 sep
	1405:55	IVAR	157 x 368 x 32.6
	1406:06	OAMS off
	1426	Fuel cell heater failed
	1456:00	Perigee adjust burn 3m/s at apogee	171 x 350 x 32.6 (NASA)
	1517		89.58 169 x 338 x 32.6
	1539?	Geometric experiment door jettison
	1607:15	REP cover ejected
	1607:15	REP deployed. 1.2m/s
	1621	REP at 1km
1965 Aug 22	0442		89.54 166 x 336 x 32.6
1965 Aug 23	0433		89.52 170 x 330 x 32.6
		Rendezvous burns
	1649:57	HAdj 6.4m/s 28s lower apogee	166 x 311 x 32.6
	1734:31	Apogee burn 4.5m/s 20s	183 x 311 x 32.6
	1806:26	Plane change 5m/s 19s, 0.02deg change
	1904:04	NSR Reverse Coelliptic 6.0m/s 22s	198 x 311 x 32.6
		Rendezvous with phantom target
	2000	Observe Minuteman launch from CC
1965 Aug 24	1318		89.55 197 x 306 x 32.61
	1633:04	Stage 2 reentry
	1636	Stage 2 breaks up over IOR 24S 108E
	1637	Observe MM launch from VAFB
1965 Aug 25	1628	Observe MM launch from VAFB
1965 Aug 26	0829		89.46 199 x 295 x 32.6
1965 Aug 29	1226:51	Adapter module sep
	1227:43	Retrofire
	1228:00	Retrofire complete	-70 x 295 x 32.6
	1228:32	Retro module sep
	1242?	120 km entry interface
	1255:14	Splashdown in Atlantic
	1330	Recovered by USS Lake Champlain