NASA · NASA-UAP-D022
Gemini IX Experiments Debriefing (1966)
This file is a NASA Manned Spacecraft Center memorandum-to-the-file (from J. R. Gill, dated 7/6/66) recording the experiments debriefing of Gemini IX (Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan), held in Building 4, MSC, on June 16, 1966, together with associated routing slips and experiment-status pages.
Key excerpts
“The efforts to dislodge the shroud from the ATDA, (called by Tom Stafford as "an angry alligator,") were in vain so docking with the ATDA was scrubbed from the mission. (p. 2)”
“Only a small portion of the exposed surface has been analyzed, but on this portion 9 impacts are recorded. Hemenway is investigating possible "contamination" between experiments before sending the individual sections to guest investigators. (p. 1)”
Alternative hypotheses
The ATDA "angry alligator" was a known docking target with a jammed shroud
only explanation supported).
The "9 impacts" were micrometeorite-collection results, not a sighting
Genuine UAP content
least probable, effectively absent).