Gemini 7 Transcript, 1965
- Date
- 5 Dec 1965
- Place
- Low Earth Orbit
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A one-page NASA Public Affairs Office (PAO) release transcript of the famous Gemini VII radio exchange in which Frank Borman calls out 'a bogey at ten o'clock high.' The transcript itself distinguishes three separate items in the same conversation: the bogey, the spent booster (which Borman separately confirms is also in sight), and 'very, very many' small particles passing about three to four miles away. Jim Lovell adds that the booster is a brilliant tumbling body 'with trillions of particles on it,' at his two o'clock position. The PAO announcer, replaying the tape, states the 'third and unidentified object' was the bogey.
What officials concluded
Resolved
NASA's own PAO commentary, replaying the tape, calls the third item the 'bogey,' distinct from the booster and the particle field, but does not offer a further identification in this file; widely-published later accounts (outside this…
- Agency
- NASA
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- Yes: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Two independent NASA crew witnesses, naked-eye only, no radar or instrument confirmation in this file; the transcript's own text keeps the 'bogey' distinct from the booster (which Borman explicitly lists as a separate, simultaneously visible object), so the popular 'it was just the booster' explanation is not what this specific document states, though it remains a plausible mundane candidate (companion debris, the second-stage adapter, or a lighting/perspective effect on the same booster).
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Frank Borman (Command Pilot) and Jim Lovell (Pilot), NASA astronauts
- Sensors
- Visual
- Motion
- The bogey and booster described as moving into what Borman called a polar orbit path
- Duration
- Brief, within one radio pass
- Altitude or range
- Particles estimated three to four miles away by Borman; booster and bogey ranges not given
Pentagon files
Gemini 7 Transcript, 1965 (Public Affairs Office release, the 'bogey' call)
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
Borman reported a 'bogey' at ten o'clock high, and when Houston asked whether it was the booster or a natural sighting, Borman said it was an actual sighting and separately confirmed the booster was also in view.
- Unverified
Lovell independently described the booster (distinct from the bogey) as a brilliant tumbling body covered in particles, at his two o'clock position.
- Unverified
The NASA PAO release itself labels the 'bogey' as a third, unidentified object distinct from the booster and the particle field.