Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
film was properly exposed. I hope it brings back some worthwhile information.
I realize now that a number of the MIT pictures were taken while the spacecraft
was in a 90 o roll attitude and the filter in the camera was not oriented properly. So
there are a few pictures that may be of no value.
I feel badly about having squandered my fuel and I feel badly about the
error in impact. I know that there was an error in pitch and I think there was an
error in yaw in the gyro attitude presentation from somewhere in the second orbit
on. Because the control fuel supply was low, I did not want to evaluate the ASCS
problem until just prior to retrofire when I thought it would probably clear up. I
thought for some time that the problem in pitch might have been just a scanner
error. Now, as I look back at it, it seems to me that that was wishful thinking,
[3-2] because I aligned the gyros correctly and the spacecraft was holding orbit
attitude when I first selected ASCS. Later, however, when I would recheck attitude
the spacecraft would be pitched way down, about 20°. So ASCS was holding orbit
attitude in yaw and roll but pitch attitude was not right. It did not agree with the
window and it did not agree with the periscope. I say 20° down when I think of the
periscope, but when I think about what I saw in the window when the ASCS was
holding retroattitude and indicating 34°, I would say that it might be something
like 30° down. I noticed the same problem on the second orbit, or maybe it was
the very beginning of the third orbit. I also noticed this prior to retrofire.
I think that one reason that I got behind at retrofire was because, just at
dawn on the third orbit, I discovered the source of the fireflies. I felt that I had
time to get that taken care of and prepare for retrofire properly, but time slipped
away. It really raced during this period, as it did through the whole flight. I really
needed that time over Hawaii. The Hawaii Cap Com was trying very hard to get
me to do the preretrograde checklist. I had previously been busy with the fireflies.
Then was busy trying to get aligned in attitude so that I could evaluate ASCS. I got
behind. I had to stow things haphazardly. I think everything was stowed, but not
in the planned places. Food crumbling gave me a bad problem because I couldn’t
use that bag for the camera. As it was, I had to carry the camera with me and
almost dumped it in the water.
At retrofire I still had the problem in pitch attitude. I did not have any
confidence in ASCS just prior to retrofire. So I told the California Cap Com that
the ASCS was bad and that I was committing to a fly-by-wire retrofire. By this time,
I had gone through part of the preretro checklist. It called for the manual fuel
handle to be out as a backup for the ASCS. I selected the fly-by-wire control system
and did not go off of the manual system so that attitude control during retrofire
was accomplished on both the fly-by-wire and manual control systems.
I feel that attitude control during retrofire was good. My reference
was divided between the periscope, the window, and the attitude indicators. At
retroattitude as, indicated by reference to the window and the periscope, the
pitch attitude indicator read -10 degrees. I tried to hold this attitude on the
instruments throughout retrofire but I cross-checked attitude in the window
and the periscopes. I have commented many times that you can not divide your
[3-3] attention between one attitude reference system and another, and do a good
job in retrofire on the trainer. But that was the way I controlled attitude during