Gemini audio recorded at Carnarvon

Gemini audio recorded at Carnarvon - compilation tape

At the end of the Gemini series, a compilation tape of Carnarvon clips from all the manned missions (with the exception of GT10), was produced.

It seems that multiple copies were made – this one was preserved by Carnarvon’s Ron Sargeant (CRO 1966-67, d. 1998). It was digitised by his grandson Sean. Separation into missions and some noise reduction by Colin Mackellar.

Special thanks to Sean and to his father, Ron (Ron senior’s son), for these recordings.

If you can help identify the owner of the voice introducing each segment, or spot any mistakes, please let us know. (Contact.)

Links to other audio on the website from those same missions is noted below.

NASA Simulations Engineer John Ferry at the Carnarvon Capcom console between passes of Gemini 4.

Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Negative scan: Colin Mackellar.

Click on the bold underlined text to play the audio file.

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Gemini 3 – 24 March 1965. Gus Grissom and John Young. CRO Capcom Pete Conrad.

Gemini 4 – 4-8 June 1965. Jim McDivitt and Ed White. CRO Capcom Ed Fendell. (More GT4 audio here.)

Gemini 5 – 21-29 August 1965. Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad. CRO Capcom Chuck Lewis. Not Bill Garvin as stated in the recording. (More GT5 audio here.)

Gemini 7 – 4-18 December 1968. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. CRP Capcom Keith Kundel.

Gemini 6A – 15-16 December 1965. Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford. CRO Capcom Keith Kundel?

Gemini 8 – 16 March 1966. Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott. CRO Capcom Ed Fendell.

At 4:15 into the clip, Ed Fendell suggests that Dave Scott “Have a Mintie”. Minties is a well-known Australian mint-flavoured chewy candy. Both Scott and Fendell had worked together at Carnarvon during Gemini 4 and had encountered Minties.

Gemini 9 – 3-9 June 1966. Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan. CRO Capcom Bill Garvin.

(Gemini 10 not included on this tape.)

Gemini 11 – 12-15 September 1966. Peter Conrad and Dick Gordon. CRO Capcom Bill Garvin.

Conrad and Gordon describe the view from 1369km above Earth, the highest orbit achieved by a manned spacecraft until Apollo 8 flew to the Moon more than two years later.

Gemini 12 – 11-15 November 1966. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin. CRO Capcom Jim Fucci. (More GT12 audio here.)

The Carnarvon Gemini consoles during Gemini 4.

John Ferry sits at the Capcom position. RAAF Flight Surgeon Bill Walsh is in the foreground at left.

Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Negative scan: Colin Mackellar.