NASA-UAP-D022, Gemini 9 Debriefing, 1966
Gemini IX (renamed Gemini IX-A) was the seventh crewed flight of the Gemini series, launched on June 3, 1966. The mission’s primary objectives included a spacewalk and multiple scientific and medical experiments. This document, dated June 16, 1966, is a transcript of a NASA debriefing of astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. Pages 2-5 of this document contain the astronauts’ accounts of their observations of “flashing lights” and “sparkles” during the mission.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Text of the document
Machine-extracted from the PDF war.gov published (its text layer or OCR), so expect errors, especially in names, numbers and handwriting; the PDF is the authoritative copy. Lines that did not extract as readable text are left out. Showing about 989 words from pages 1, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 of 78.
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NASA ROUT SLIP CODE NAME (if 11tm1ary) INVESTIGATE AND ADVISE NOTE AND FORWARD NOTE AND RETURN PER REQUEST s. SEE ME REPL y FOR SIGNATURE Of:
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NASA ROUTI G SLIP CODE NAME (if 11,wsar;,) _q_ INVESTIGATE ANO ADVISE \~ NOTE AND fORWARO NOTE ANO RETURN SEE ME UPI.Y FOi SIGNATURE Of, AtOM: CODE, I NAME,
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Memorandum to the File Subject: Experiments Debfiefing of Gemini IX held in Bldg.4, MSC at Gemini IX ' s performance on the 0SSA experiments was impressive. The guiding performed for S011 and S001 was the best that has yet been done on a manned spacecraft . In all 40 usu.able pictures of the airglow were made with the 2-filter (split field) arrangement attached to the wide angle Maurer lens 8ee1: was done inside the capsule since it was not possible to attempt it during the EVA . THey got pictures of the zodiacal light and the Milky Way and the guiding was good even for the 30 sec sweeps . On Tri-X these are the best pictures yet of the zodiacal light surpassing the results achieved on S011; About 40 usable pictures of the airglow were obtained. THese contain some of the same star fields pictured in S00l. Guiding was very good even though Cernan had to do the experiment from a very awkward position. S012: Hemenway showed several pictures which were enlargements (up to 35,000 times) . Only a small portion aJf the/ surface has been a.na.lyzed, but on this portio portion 9 impacts are recorded. Hemenway is investigating possible "contamination between experiments before sending the individual sections to guest investigators . On the biological experiments where the results come ou:b faster (a) 3 swabs taken inside the s/c re-flight were dirty; post-flight these same areas were sterile. (b) the T-4 bacteriophages and the penicilliumspeciroens
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survived the spaceflight; two other speciment. The 30-day report on this experiment will contain more results, but the full micrometoerite analysis will take some time. S-5 and S-6: These experiments were not officially carried, but nonetheless it was done as "operational procedure." In all some 300 color pictures were taken with the Hasselblad and Maurer cameras both of which were carried (for the first time. The Maurer is eventually planned to replace the Hasselblad, but this has been slow in evolution.) A strip was taken over Peru where the weather happened to excellent. Features show up in these pictures which do not appear on any existing map; for example, a glacial lake in the Ange~ which do not appear on any existing maps. The Peruvian Embassy has been informed of this lake which may portend an avalanche hazard for villagesilocated below, The Peruvians have sent a military p-l,ane into the area to investigate. THis indicates the possible current use of such pictorial information. THe AMU exercise was unsuccessful. It proved to be too Im.lCh "work" under the present arrangements. It takes two hands just to control the body peeitionang. Hand-held photography during EVA for experiments looks "out of the question" at present. Jocelyn R. Gill
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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT Manned Flik-'t' ~ periments Office SUBJECT: Report on Gemini 9 Gemini 9 - n~e,ct:xon on our experimen was impressive . the capsule . Pictures were taken of the zod~cal light and the Milky Way . Guiding was quite good even for the 30 second sweep. Tri- x film was used, and best pictures yet of the Naval Research Laboratory - About 40 us~ble pictures of the airglow with a split field picture were obtained. Some of the same star field were shown in S-1 . Guiding was very good even though Cernan had to take pictures in a very awkward position . S-12 - Micrometeorite Collection (Hemenway) - Showed several pictures which were greatly magnified - enlargement of the micrometeorite experiment . Only a small portion of the exposed surface has been analyzed. Nevertheless 9 important ones are recorded on these films . Hemenway is investigating possible contamination between experiments before sending individual portions to guest experimenters . Biological Experiments - Results of these come .out faster . Part A: 3 swabs were taken inside of spacecraft . Preflight were dirty . Postflight : Some areas were sterile . Part B: Penicillium and T- 4 bactericidal specimens survived the spaceflight . Two other specimens did not . 30 day report may have more results but micrometeorite experiment will take some time . Buy U.S. Savings Bonds Regularly on the Payroll Savings Plan
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and Cernan took over 300 colored pictures using the Hasselblad and Maur er camera . A photographic strip was taken over Peru where weather was excellent . Some features show up , for example , glacial lake in the Andes which do not show on any existing map . Peruvian embassy has been informed of this lake which may portend for avalanch hazard to villages located below this lake . Military plane was sent into area to investigate . AMU - This was unsuccessful. Proves to be "too much work" under present arrangements during EVA . It takes two hands to control the body positioning. Hand held photography during EVA for experiment looks out of the question at present time . Jocelyn R. Gill
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Associate Administrator Space Science and Applications National Aeronautics and Space Ad.ministration Dear Homer : First, in behalf of the NRL-GSFC collaborators in Gemini Experiment S-9, I want to express deep gratification at t he strong int erest in and concern for the success of our experiment shown by you and by Dr. George Mueller. The substantial help that both of you and your associates in NASA have given us is much appreciated. The proposal to include two high-altitude orbits in the flight plan for Gemini mission XI has been carefully examined by physicists at MSC Houston, as well as by our joint NRL-Goddard group . At a meeting in my office yester day with officials from NASA Headquarters and from MSC, Houston, we agreed
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of NASA's 40 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the NASA agency block it ranks #39 of 40 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 450-file archive it ranks #192 of 450.
That places it in the lower-scoring band of the archive (192 of 450 by score), typical of investigative-record style files where the report is paper-based rather than instrumented.
Anomalousness Index: 59/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Reported by a witness with no instrumented record. The lowest tier in the rubric's sensor axis. Eyewitness perception in field conditions, even when the witness is highly credentialed, scores below capture by any instrumented modality. This report reached the federal record through NASA.
Astronaut witness on the official federal record - the highest tier in the rubric's witness-credibility axis. It applies to NASA crew debriefings, mission transcripts, and astronaut interviews across the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Witness credibility is only one of six components; the astronaut-witness files that also rank high on the sensor and disposition axes are the eight tied for the archive's top score of 72 - the Gemini 7 Borman audio, the Gordon Cooper interview, and the Apollo 14, 16, and 17 crew debriefings.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. This is the corroboration tier for the overwhelming majority of the PURSUE archive on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish. A small number of files with an independent second witness or instrument score on the multi-witness/multi-instrument tier above this one.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 59/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in NASA
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
NASA-UAP-D003A, Gemini 7 Audio Excerpt, 1965
NASA-UAP-D023, Interview Excerpt with Astronaut Gordon Cooper, 1962
NASA-UAP-D030, STS-80 Unidentified Object Image 1, 1996
NASA-UAP-D031, STS-80 Unidentified Object Image 2, 1996
NASA-UAP-D032, STS-80 Unidentified Object Image 3, 1996
NASA-UAP-D003, Gemini 7 Transcript, 1965
Verification
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