1966-03-16, 6:44 pm This is Gemini Control, Houston. We are 8 hours and 3 minutes into the flight of Gemini 8. And in view of the trouble encountered at 7 hours into the flight as reported earlier, the Flight Director has determined to terminate the flight in the 7-3 area. We plan to bring the flight down on the 7th orbit in the 3rd, what we call the 3rd zone, which is approximately 500 miles east of Okinawa, it's in the far west Pacific. Our situation out there is as follows - a destroyer named the Mason is about 160 miles away at this time, it is proceeding towards the point, and it should take that destroyer probably 5 to 6 hours to reach the point, which should come very close to the - well it may be a little delayed, get there after the landing itself. The first estimate I have on the retrofire time is 10 hours and four minutes into the mission, in other words two hours from now. Landing should take place some 25 to 26 minutes later. In addition to the Mason, a C-54 has been dispatched from Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan. Its proceeding to the point. Another C-54 is proceeding to the point from Okinawa. The - another location here on the landing point is quoted to me as 630 nautical miles south of Yokosuka, Japan. The weather conditions out there are partly cloudy, visibility ten miles, and the landing will be made in full daylight, it's 12:30 pm out in the 7-3 area. Again to recap our situation as best we understand it at this point, at 7 hours into the mission, Neil Armstrong noted some maneuvers, the spacecraft-Agena combination getting into some rates that he did not like. He elected to back off from the Agena, undock, which he did. We do not know whether the problem developed in the Agena or in the spacecraft. We do know that the maneuver thrusters on the aft end of the Gemini 8 spacecraft became inoperative in yaw. He did report later he had his pitch thrusters and he also reported he had used one of his Reentry Control System rings to bring the spacecraft under complete control. That pretty well sums up our situation here. We'll pass along additional information as it develops. This is Gemini Control at 8 hours, 6 minutes into the flight.

1966-03-16, 7:01 pm This is Gemini Control, Houston. At this time the flight control team are reviewing retrofire parameters to bring the spacecraft in the 7-3 area. We have been further advised that an HU-16 amphibian type aircraft is being dispatched to the scene, again located about 506 miles east and slightly south of Okinawa. In additional discussions with Gemini 8 over the Rose Knot Victor, it was a fairly short pass, Neil did advise that the thruster number 8 apparently failed in an open position. We don't know that that was the complete extent of the difficulty, but he did verify that that thruster failed. We don't know whether it failed while he was still docked to the Agena or after he had undocked and backed off from the Agena, but that's of no consequence at this point. He does have the spacecraft in a very stable attitude, using his RCS system. The Agena is described as ahead and below him, which apparently is a favorable condition for the kind of landing maneuver we want to attempt, of retrocommand is 10 hours and 4 minutes into the mission. And to correct an earlier statement, it is approximately 32 minutes later that the spacecraft should touch down in the West Pacific. This is Gemini Control, Houston.