Jack King at Cape Kennedy. ...continuing during this good performance of this Atlas-Agena in powered flight, we are now at T-84 minutes and 15 seconds and counting. The astronauts have been busy at Launch Complex 19 in the spacecraft, surrounded by the White Room at Launch Complex 19. Neil Armstrong came back with some remarks of "very good, very good," as he received the highlights of the Atlas-Agena performance. When he did hear that the Agena had ignited and was performing well, he came through with a very strong and very happy "very good" remark. We have completed purging the Gemini 8 spacecraft with oxygen, the spacecraft will be purged completely with oxygen and the astronauts now have been advised that they can open their visors. They have complete 100% oxygen in the spacecraft at the present time. Coming up in just several minutes will be a lengthy series of switch-list checks performed by both the Command Pilot Neil Armstrong and the Pilot David Scott; They will check every individual switch in the spacecraft, in front of each of their consoles, and ensure that its in the correct position, and verify this to the Spacecraft Test Conductor who is located in the blockhouse at 19. Our countdown is continuing to go well; all systems looking good, both with the Gemini launch vehicle and the spacecraft. Shortly we also will be making preparations to get the technicians back to the elevator and down from the White Room to clear the area. We will be ready to lower the erector at about T-60-minute mark in the count. All going well here at Pad 19 at T-82 minutes and 32 seconds and counting. We now return you to the Mission Control Center in Houston.

Paul Haney in Houston. And this is Gemini Control, Houston. During the last few minutes we have checked the computers, Flight Dynamics advises the Agena is in orbit. Its orbit is as follows: 162 nautical miles by 156 nautical miles, I repeat, 162 apogee, 156 miles perigee. This is as close to - as close as we could hope for with an unmanned vehicle. It's cause for a lot of smiles here in the Control Center and one of the controllers is passing around cigars which are labeled "It's an Orbit". This is Gemini Control, Houston.

1966-03-16, 9:22 am. This is Gemini Launch Control coming up on T-74 minutes and counting, Mark T-74 minutem and counting on Gemini 8 mission. The astronauts in the spacecraft, Neil Armstrong and David Scott are going through their complete switch check list, that is checking all the switches on their consoles to ensure their being in the proper position. They are working this switch list check with the Spacecraft Test Conductor in the blockhouse. During the power phase of the Atlas-Agena launch, both astronauts are kept abreast of the flight performance all the way through. The Spacecraft Conductor did then advise astronaut Armstrong, had the following quote. He told Neil "It looks like we have a live one up there for you." Armstrong's reply was "good show". Our countdown continues, all systems looking good. They are in the process now of making final clearance from the White Room, that the particular height that surrounds the Gemini spacecraft. The technicians are busy at work in the White Room at this point clearing out their various final checking material that was used in the final phases leading up to hatch closure. The technicians are expected to leave shortly, we will be aiming to lowering the erector at about the 55-minute mark in the count. We will have a hold in this countdown at the T-3-minute mark. Later in the count, the Mission Control Center in Houston, Flight Director John Hodge will advise the Test Conductor at Launch Complex 19 of the length of the hold. He will do this by announcing to the Test Conductor the time we want to launch the Gemini launch vehicle. It will be about 101 minutes from the Atlas-Agena lift-off which occured just about on the hour. We are now at T-72 minutes and 7 seconds with all going well and we will switch you now to Mission Control Center in Houston.

1966-03-16, 9:22 am.And this Gemini Control, Houston, we are 23 minutes into the flight of this Agena and the Agena has been acquired by the Canary Station. The report from Canary was all systems working precisely as asked, very satisfied with the operation of the Agena, reported good stability on the orbit and all and all a very happy report from the Canary Station. Meanwhile, an additional analysis has been done on the trajectory data and our orbit is even better than earlier reported. We now show an orbit of 162 nautical miles by 159 nautical miles. This is juat about as close to circular as we can hope for. At 23 minutes and 50 seconds into the flight, this is Gemini Control, Houston.

1966-03-16, 9:31 am. This is Gemini Launch Control. We are now at T-64 minutes and 3 seconds and counting on the Gemini 8 mission. All going well during the final phase of the count of the Gemini 8 spacecraft. A short while ago the pilots, Neil Armstrong and David Scott, were informed about what appears to be an excellent Agena orbit. They were given the numbers and astronaut Armstrong remarked, "Beautiful, We will take that one." This was followed up by a remark from David Scott where he added, "Roger, that's just what the Doctor ordered." They were both very enthusiastic in their remarks. Now T-63 minutes and 25 seconds and counting. At Launch Complex 19, we have cleared the White Room of the technicians who made the final checks on the spacecraft have departed and gone down the elevator. We are going through some preparations leading up to the erector lowering which is scheduled for the 55 mark in the count. Also, coming up within a few minutes will be the opening of the pre-valves in the first stage oxidizer system. The reason we open this one prevalve early is to permit some oxidizer to bleed down into a stand pipe. That is the so-called "pogo stand pipe" that permits us to alleviate some possible pressure pulses that could occur in the propellants in the first,stage. This prevents some possible isolations that could occur in flight. The so called pogo test will take place between the 60- and 55-minute mark in the count. We bleed some oxidizer into this stand pipe in order to give it a cushion as far as the propellant isolation is concerned. Al1 looking well, now T-62 minutes and 15 seconds and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 9:40 am. This is Gemini Launch Control now coming up on T-54 minutes and counting - T-54, all going well at Launch Complex 19 during these final phases of the Gemini checkout. Ihe Agena spacecraft is now coming into the Indian Ocean, and in the Gemini 8 spacecraft to top the pad at Launch Complex 19, all is going well with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. We are going through some final preparations now leading up to the erector lowering. This is the service structure that surrounds the launch vehicle and spacecraft. We had a report moments ago from the blockhouse that they expect to start this erector lowering in a matter of minutes. When the erector is lowered, we use a winch system to do it, that is a cable that is attached to the erector itself, and a 150 horsepower motor is used to ease the erector first away from the launch vehicle and spacecraft, and then it gently lowers it down to its horizontal position. We will then, of course, continue on with the countdown. We are now at T-52 minutes and 56 seconds with all going well. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16. This is Gemini Launch Control now at T-51 minutes and 35 seconds snd counting. The erector at Launch Complex 19 is now coming down. The spacecraft is free. It will be about a 10-minute operation to bring the erector down to its horizontal position. We have reports from the spacecraft and from the blockhouse that all is going well at the present time. We now switch you to the Mission Control Center in Houston.
This is Gemini Control, Houston. Another refinement of the data based on Canary data now shows an exact circular orbit of 161 nautical miles on the Agena, which is precisely what we were aiming for this mrning. The Agena right now is east of the Tananarive station and Tananarive should be reading out its TM which was reading quite well when it passed over the Canary station. Our tentative planning here shows that we want to launch the Gemini at precisely 41 minutes after the hour. Forty one minutes, 00 seconds. And it appears that we will be aiming for a launch azimuth of 99.9 degrees. This is Gemini Control, Houston.

1966-03-16, 9:52 am. This is Gemini Launch Control. Now at T-44 minutes and 5 seconds and counting. All going well at Launch Complex 19, and at the Mission Control Center in Houston. The erector is now down and we are proceding with our countdown. Coming up shortly will be a series of reports by astronaut Scott on the status of the spacecraft. It will include reports on the Environmental Control System, Pressurization, and orbit attitude and the status of the propellants in the maneuvering system. That's the propellant system for the spacecraft. We have just completed some important tests between the blockhouse and the spacecraft. This is a capability of the Launch Vehicle Test Conductor to recommend an abort early during the flight. Of course, the astronauts themselves would conduct an abort during these early phase of the flight. The Launch Vehicle Test Conductor does have a capability of recommending, however, and the system was just checked here a few moments ago. Now in the Mission Control Center here at Cape Kennedy, both backup pilots have arrived and they are monitoring the countdown from the location at this time. That is astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon. They have joined Deke Slayton, who is assistant Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, for flight crew operations at the astronauts monitoring controls here in the Control Center. All looking good at the present time, T-42 seconds [means minutes], 55 seconds and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:01 am.This is Gemini Launch Control, now T-34 minutes and 3 seconds and counting on the Gemini 8 mission with all systems looking good. At this point in the countdown, we are going through a so-called program sequence test at Launch Complex 19. Involved is that busy Mark 3 radio command guidance system which first supported the Atlas-Agena launcg and now late - actually probably 20 or 30 minutes ago returned its work to Launch Complex 19 to complete the final guidance checks there. During this particular sequence test, we check out the flight control system of the launch vehicle which is the primary system and also the secondary program sequence of the flight control which are concerned with the spacecraft computer. The astronauts will be monitoring this test and reporting on its results as far as the spacecraft is concerned. The crew is busy in the blockhouse checking its data on how it's going with the launch vehicle itself. Also going on in the spacecraft are some voice communications checks over UHF and very high frequency channels between the astronauts and the blockhouse. All systems looking good now at T-32 minutes and 50 seconds and counting. We will have a hold at the T-3-minuten mark in order to coordinate lift-off of the Gemini 8 with the passing Agena. We will insert some 1,050 miles - thats 1,050 nautical miles behind the Agena with the Gemini 8 spacecraft if all goes well. The hold is expected to last about 5 minutes and 47 seconds. However, the Flight Director will give direct confirmation on this later in the count when he advises Launch Complex 19 of the exact launch time. He will actually confirm it at the 18-minute mark in the countdown. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:06 am. This is Gemini Launch Control. Now at T-29 minutes. Mark T-29 minutes and counting. All systems still going well at Launch Complex 19. We are still in the midst of our flight controlled test between the blockhouse, the Mark III radio command guidance system, and the Gemini launch vehicle and spacecraft. It appears to be going well at the present time as all systems look well at this phase of the count. Now I will switch you to the Mission Control Center in Houston.
This is Gemini Control in Houston. We are 1 hour and 6 minutes into the flight of the Agena. All continues to work quite satisfactory. The Agena is now east of the Australian continent. As it came into the approximate 1,000-mile acquisition zone of the Carnarvon station, the station seemed to have a little trouble locking up on the C-band and the S-band radars which gave us a mild start. Apparently a ground problem that has been cleared up and they acquired a very valid and solid signal from both beacons. They continued to track the Agena through and were quite happy with the performance of the Agena system. Meanwhile, a message has gone out to all stations on the range describing in some detail the communications problem which has been followed very carefully since early in the day. Again, to touch on it, this seems to be a situation where the pilot on their intercom, when they are in the intercom position, are actually transmitting. The situation where we are getting too much communication. They all note some degradation in the signal strength. It is entirely possible that this situation will clear itself up once in orbit. We have experienced it before. Very rough communications in the first orbit as we did in the Gemini 6 flight, but by the second orbit they were well cleared up and contiinued for 24 hours. At 1 hour and 8 minutes in the flight of the Agena, this is Gemini Control in Houston.

1966-03-16, 10:11 am.This is Gemini Launch Control. Now T-24 minutes and 3 seconds and counting. All systems still looking good at the pad. We are coming on the so-called OAMS static test here in the next several minutes. This is a test of the thrusters in the adapter section of the Gemini spacecraft. These thrusters are part of the Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System which gives us our propulsion when we are in orbit. There are a total of 16 engines or 16 thrusters in the so-called OAMS system. Eight of these engines have a thrust of 25 pounds, two of them have 85 pounds of thrust and 6 of the engines have 100 pounds of thrust. During this test of thrusters coming up here shortly, we will test the 25-pound thrust engines that ring the base of the adapter section to the spacecraft. We will test them to check the yaw, the pitch, primarily and to ensure that they are all working satisfactorily. This also permits us to condition the propellant system in the spacecraft. We will get some puffs from the thrusters coming up shortly. All systems looking good. T-22 minutes and 51 seconds and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:16 am. This is Gemini Launch Control coming up on T-19 minutes and counting. Our static test of the thruster system for the propulsion for the Gemini 8 spacecraft is going on at the present time and the tests are going well. This is being monitored, both by the astronauts in the spacecraft and the blockhouse at pad 19. The astronauts are confirming what the blockhouse data shows, that the thrusters are performing very well. We appear to have just about completed a very excellent test of the spacecraft production system. We will be leading into some final tests of the Gemini 8 launch vehicle. Coming up in just about 25 seconds from this time will be the Flight Director John Hodge in Houston advising the crew at Launch Complex 19 the exact time that we want to launch the Gemini spacecraft. This will be coming up shortly and we will pass it on to you at the time. Now coming up on T-18 minutes and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:19 am. This is Gemini Launch Control at the Cape coming up T-16 minutes and counting. All going well. Moments ago the Flight Director advised the Cape that we want to have a launch at 40 minutes, 59 seconds past the hour. Let me reiterate we want T-0 or ignition at that time. Ignition of the Gemini launch vehicle at 40 minutes and 59 seconds past the hour. The nominal close of a brief window hereafter would come at 45 minutes and 8 seconds after the hour. To repeat, ignition of the Gemini launch vehicle at 40 minutes and 59 seconds after the hour. Nominal close of our window: 45 minutes and 8 seconds after the hour. We will be launching on a azimuth of 99.9 degrees. The pad at the present time, the cooling the blockhouse are going through a series of range safety tests with the Air Force Test Range. All going well now at T-15 minutes and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:19 am. This is Gemini Launch Control. We're now at T-9 minutes and 3 seconds and counting, with all going well at Launch Complex 19. The Agena spacecraft which has been inserted into a successful orbit is now crossing the Pacific approaching California, about mid-way between Hawaii and California at this time. In the meantime, we are going through the final phases of the countdown at Launch Complex 19. We will go into a planned built-in hold at T-3 minute mark in the countdown. We will resume this hold in time to make an ignition of the Gemini launch vehicle at 40 minutes and 59 seconds after the hour. The hold time will be some 5 minutes and 45 seconds. When we pick up at the T-3 minute mark, aiming for the 40 minute and 59 seconds ignition after the hour, the radio command guidance will put the final flight parameters into the vehicle for the flight, this will be for the flight azimuth. It will put in the proper roll program at that time. We are now at T-8 minutes and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:31 am. This is Gemini Launch Control coming up on T-4 minutes and counting with all systems looking good at Launch Complex 19. Our checkout is proceeding very well, and what has been a very excellent countdown has been one of the most complicated countdowns that has been conducted at Cape Kennedy in view of the fact that some 9 different activities were brought in simultaneosly during the dual operation of launching the Atlas-Agena at the 95-minute mark and coming up on the Gemini 8 lift-off. We will go into a hold some 30 seconds from this time at the T-3-minute mark. This hold is expected to last 5 minutes and 54 seconds. We will then resume our countdown at T-3 minutes leading to an ignition of the Gemini launch vehicle at 40 minutes and 59 seconds after the hour. This is the exact time we want in order to coincide our insertion into orbit of the Gemini 8 with the Agena which will be swinging around shortly on its first orbit of the Earth. We are now at T-3 minutes and holding. T-3 minutes and holding. This hold is expected to last 5 minutes and 54 seconds. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:38 am. This is Gemini Launch Control. We are still at T-3 minutes, we have just resumed the count. T-3 minutes and counting on the Gemini 8 mission. We have completed our planned hold and are now proceeding down to the final minutes leading up to an ignition of a Gemini launch vehicle at 40 minutes and 59 seconds past the hour. The Mark 3 radio command guidance system now has fed the final flight parameters into the launch vehicle and spacecraft. It will be launched on an azimuth of 99.9 degrees. Now 2 minutes and 30 seconds and counting. During this phase of the countdown and over the final five minutes just about all sequences monitored in the blockhouse worked automatically as far as the launch vehicle is concerned; we are an automatic sequence and we are checking the various events as the click off during these final phases. Now at T-2 minutes and 8 seconds and counting. This is Gemini Launch Control.

1966-03-16, 10:39 am. This is Gemini Launch Control, now at T-1 minute, 47 seconds and counting. We do have a clearance for a launch. The stage one fuel prevalves have been opened, this permits the fuel to feed down just above the thrust chamber of the launch vehicle. Now coming up on T-90 seconds, mark T-90 seconds and counting. All systems looking good during this final phase of the count. We will get ignition of the Gemini launch vehicle at 0 in this final phase of the countdown. Zero ignition, the two engines will build up some 430 thousand pounds of thrust just prior to lift-off. Once the vehicle builds up 77 percent of this thrust we get a Go for lift-off. This will occur some four seconds after ignition. Now T-1 minute and counting as we go through our final checks. T-50 seconds and counting. If all goes well, the Gemini 8 will be inserted into orbit some 1,015 nautical miles behind the Agena. T-40 seconds and counting, T-40. In the blockhouse the crew is reporting as they monitor the various activities over the final phase. Now T-30 seconds and counting. T-20 seconds and counting. Fifteen, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, we have ignition...