1966-03-17, 9:15 am This is Houston Mission Control. We have word here that a medical officer on board the USS Mason, a Lieutenant Paul Fukuda, who was assigned to the Mason for this mission, just completed an examination of the astronauts. Both were in excellent condition. The blood pressure tests were completed and blood samples taken. Just a few minutes ago at about six minutes after midnight their time, which was 9:06 our time, and the astronauts were reported as resting and hungry and having what they called a light lunch of steak and eggs. The Mason is now reported at, an hour ago, was reported at 25 degrees, 42 minutes north; 131 degrees, 45 minutes east, with a steering course of 272 at 30 knots and they were riding well on smooth seaa. The Agena is now over the Atlantic Ocean on its 16th rev. A few minutes ago we had a burn of 104 delta-V which placed the spacecraft in a 160 by 218-nautical-mile orbit. Prior to this burn, it was in a 160 by 161-nautical-mile orbit. The burn was conducted over Carnarvon in the fifteenth rev. The next burn is scheduled to take place some four hours from now. And this burn will take place over Hawaii, and this will be a circularization maneuver. It will also be a 104 feet-per-second burn. Some dispersions are expected in this burn, and will be trimmed up later on with the secondary propulsion system. Out of plane and in plane burns will be conducted until fuel depletion, and this will probably throw some dispersions into the orbit. However, these will be taken out later with the SPS, secondary propulsion system. This orbit is good for 210 days, or about seven months. It will be when we get into the circularization maneuver, get the Agena into the circularization mode, Right now we are 24 hours and 19 minutes into the Agena mission. This ia Mission Control Houston.

1966-03-17, 9:43 am This ia Mission Control in Houston. Astronaut Wally Schirra, who was on a personal appearance tour in the Pacific, is presently in Hawaii, and he along with Dr. Duane Catterson will fly from Hawaii to Okinawa to meet the Gemini 8 crew. Schirra and Dr. Catterson expect to arrive in Okinawa shortly after the USS Mason docks there. They will pick up the Gemini 8 crew and return to Cape Kennedy. It's nomally about a 20-hour trip from Okinawa to the Cape. At the Cape, the Gemini 8 crew will have a normal nine-day debriefing. This is Mission Control in Houston.

1966-03-17, 11:05 am This is Gemini Control, Houston. A press conference will be held today at 12:30 CST at the Houston News Center. In the course of this press conference, we will play all of the tapes starting just before the difficulty developed in the flight last night. We'll start with the Tananarive pass and carry all the tape recordings we have right through to retrofire. From the Mason, we received a report about 50 minutes ago at 16:11 Zulu time. It is now 17:06 Zulu. That both aatronauts have had a hearty meal of steak and eggs and are now sleeping. The Mason's position at l6:00 Zulu was 25 degrees, 39 minutes north; 131 degrees, 22 minutes east. It’s proceeding on a course of 272 degrees at 30 knots. The Mason estimates it will arrive at Naha at 23:00 Zulu time today. Meanwhile, a party headed by Capt. Wally Schirra has departed Hickam Field in Hawaii in an Air Force 707. Capt. Schirra, along with Dr. Duane Catterson and other NASA people, will land also are estimating Naha at 23:00 Zulu today. This is Gemini Control, Houston.

1966-03-17, 2:50 pm This is Mission Control Houston. Scheduled burn in the new Agena Flight Plan was made at 28 hours and 44 minutes into the flight of the Gemini. This was a little over an hour ago in the 18th rev. The purpose of this maneuver was to circularize the orbit. The burn was a PPS burn, a primary propulsion system burn and it took place at 1:44 pm CST over the Hawaii station. The burn was at apogee and resulted in a 219.9 by 219.7-nautical-mile orbit. The maneuver was aimed at a 220 circular burn. This new orbit is considered excellent. The SPS thruster fired to the burn for ullage of the fuel. The primary propulsion system was initiated for a two-second duration burn of 104 feet per second. Hawaii reported that the burn events looked good all the way. The burn was made with the TDA, target docking adapter of the Agena forward in a tight control mode. After the burn was completed, the Agena was returned to a loose control mode to conserve fuel. In this mode, less than 5/100 of a pound of fuel is used each hour for attitude control. The Agena is now in a zero roll, zero pitch, zero yaw attitude. Later today the scheduled plane change burn will take place. This is now set for 6:17 p.m. CST, and will be over the tracking ship CSQ. The Agena will be TDA north with a burn of 1,600 feet per second out of plane; The burn is expected to move the Agena about one point five degrees out of plane to the north. The Agena is now in the 19th rev. coming up on the Pacific at 29 hours and 52 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

1966-03-17, 5:26 pm ...the command for the primary propulsion burn which is scheduled to take place about 6:17 CST was loaded into the Agena over the Coastal Sentry and the 21st rev, and the proper loading of the command was confirmed over Hawaii. In addition to the load command, a VM cut-off was loaded. This is the velocity meter that measures the velocity to be gained and then cuts off the primary propulsion system burn at the proper moment. The inclination of the Agena spacecraft after the circularization in the 18th rev at 1:44 pm today was 28.88 degrees, this was a change of 2/10ths of one degree in the inclination of 28.86 prior to the burn. The. scheduled 1600 foot per second out of plane burn will cause the inclination to go to 30.37 degrees, or make the orbital path curve fatter. This will make the Agena go farther north and farther south of the Equator. The present orbit is good for seven months or about 210 days. The onboard power is described by the flight controllers as being fat. They started with 2,580 amp hours of power on board and they still have in excess of 2,200 amp hours of power left. The scheduled PPS, or Primary Propulsion System burn is scheduled to take place in the 22nd rev over the CSQ. We are now 32 hours and 28 minutes into the Agena mission. This is Mission Control, Houston.

1966-03-17, 5:38 pm This is Mission Control in Houston. We just got word that the USS Mason with astronauts Armstrong and Scott is now entering the Naha Harbor in Okinawa. Both astronauts are rested and they just completed a hearty breakfast a little while ago and were taken on a tour of the Destroyer Mason. We just received this message just a few minutes ago. The Agena spacecraft now has started its 22nd rev and is 32 hours and 38 minutes into the mission as the Agena crosses the south Atlantic. This is Mission Control in Bouston.

1966-03-17, 6:20 pm This is Mission Control, Houston. The primary propulsion system burn that was scheduled to take place at 17 minutes after the hour of 6 has been postponed by the Agena flight controllers here in Mission Control. In checking the data in the stored program command mode in the Agena memory, they discovered a slight error, and this is being corrected now. Plans are to make the burn in the next revolution. This burn is a plane change burn of 1,600 feet-per-second with the target docking adapter pointing north. This burn is out of plane and it's to see how accurately a plane change can be made and to determine how much in-plane velocity results from an out of plane burn. As I said, they are now correcting the error that was discovered in the Agena memory that they had fed into it earlier, and the plans are now to make this burn in the next revolution. This is Mission Control in Houston.

1966-03-17, 6:23 pm This is Mission Control in Houston. We just got word a few minutes ago that the USS Mason is now at the dock in Naha, Okinawa vith the Gemini 8 crew, astronauts Armstrong and Scott. This was about 30 minutes ago when the Mason docked in Okinawa, Naha, Okinawa. They were getting the gang-plank in place, and astronaut Schirra was standing by on the dock to, greet the Gemini 8 crew as they came off the ship. We have a little more information on the primary propulsion burn that was erased by the CSQ on this last pass. That was in the 22nd rev. It wasn't originally scheduled to take place here, but they discovered an error in the stored program command load in the Agena memory. That is being corrected now, and the plans are presently to make the burn on the next rev. over the CSQ. This will be at approximately 8:00 CST. This is Mission Control, Houston.

1966-03-17, 6:40 pm This is Mission Control in Houston. We have just been advised that the Change of Shift Press Briefing has been moved up and is scheduled now for 7:00 pm instead of the 7:30 time that was scheduled earlier. Mr. Hodge and some of his people will be going over to the News Center in Building 6 in Nassau Bay across from the Manned Spacecraft Center in just a few minutes. We also have another little bit of information from the USS Mason in Naha, Okinawa harbor. Astronaut Schirra boarded the USS Mason about 10 minutes ago and went onboard to greet the Gemini 8 crew. The Agena is now over the mid-Pacific in its 22nd revolution around the Earth at 33 hours and 41 minutes into its flight. This is Mission Control in Houston.