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By SP5 JOE GRONERSS Okinawa BureauNAHA AB, Okinawa—Air Force Maj, John Hepperle wiped the sweat from his brow, took another sip of coffee, strode across the room and stood in front of a clattering machine.The message the teletype was •spitting out could have been a routine Weather report—or information on an air evacuation flown out of some Far East port.'But suddenly there was the clang of a bell and a “robot talking’’ voice pierced the silence of the afternoon, confirming what Hepperle was anxiously scanning on the teletype machine.“Gemini-5 passing over Samoa on 54th orbit.“Gemini-5 passing over Argentina on 54th orbit.“Gemini-5 is passing over India on orbit 55, Astronaut Gordon Cooper has just set a new record for the total time in space.” This is what is going on inside one of the worldwide air recovery headquarters for the manned Gemini-5 space marathon.It is an around-the-clock vigil for some 55 specially trainedGemini recovery crews from Okinawa and Japan who stand ready to go on a moment’s notice to pluck the Gemini-5 from the sea in the event it makes a Pacific reentry.When astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad blasted off from Cape Kennedy last Saturday Okinawa time, air rescue crews from the Naha-based 33d Air Rescue Sq. and the 38th Air Rescue Sq. at Tachikawa AB, Japan, went on a special alert for recovering the Gemini-5 and rescuing the astronauts should Cooper and Conrad be forced to make a Pacific splashdown instead of the planned Atlantic landing.Hepperle, the Gemini project officer for the Okinawa recovery force, Capt. Robert Hildebrand, duty controller, and A2C William Dukes along with A2C Richard Briggs are a few of the skilled Okinawa recovery force who perform this vital link in the Gemini program inside a small and complex building here only seconds away from their rescue aircraft, poised on the flighfline outside.Lights, switches, control panels, Gemini voice boxes and huge wall and. table maps “litter” the area, making one believe how complicated and important recovery forces are for America’s space program.,But these pilots, Gemini tracking experts, ground crews, and paramedic teams are ready to perform a mission they hope they will never have.Okinawa’s recovery force in the Gemini-5 adventure is a vital one, covering an area 240 mile1 in radius some 640 miles northeast of the island. It ir one of two secondary recovery areas in the world for the Cooper-Conrad flight.This would be the primary area used by astronauts Cooper and Conrad in the even1 Gemini-5 is forced to make a Pacific reentry. The Okinawa recovery force would then speed to the area along with the sea armada of vessels from the Pacific recovery force to secure the capsule and aid the astronauts.During a tour of the recovery center operations, Hepperle pointed out the “nuts and bolts” of the operations emphasizing they are in close direct contact for all developments on the Gemini utilizing phone and teletype from the Pacific recovery headquarters at Kunia, Hawaii, which in turn maintains direct communications With the Fanned Space Center at Houston, Tex.“In addition to this, we are able to maintain close contact with all land bases and ships at sea participating in the Gemini-5 recovery operations using the single side band radio.”Precise orbits, changes in course, and the exact position of the Gemini-5 are plotted constantly by the controllers on a large table map inside the recovery center as soon as they are received over the voice circuit or teletype.“In the event the capsule is attempting a Pacific reentry in our recovery area, we can have an HU-54 pararescue transport and an HU-16 amphibian in the air with rescue teams aboard in less than 30 minutes,” the major said. “Second aircraft can be launched shortly after this with another team aboard.“We are allowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a maximum of five hours to reach the designated recovery area north of Okinawa, The flight normally takes about two hours, 15 minutes once airborne,1'Hepperle said that if the capsule did come down, paramedics carrying some 150 pounds of rescue gear, would parachute into thssgr water from the HU-54’s, attach a flotation collar to the capsule and give any aid to the astronauts.The HU-16 Albatross would land on the water and give further assistance until other surface vessels arrived on the scene to pickup the astronauts.Hepperle pointed out that the first day of difficulties with tire Gemini-5 resulting from faulty fuel cells which nearly forced the capsule down in the Pacific caused “quite a bit of commotion” at the Okinawa recovery center.Sharp Due MondayNAHA, Okinawa (SS) — Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp Jr., commander-in-chief Pacific, is to arrive on Okinawa from Hong Kong Monday for a one-day visit with ranking military comman^ ers on the island, it was announced here Wednesday.A spokesman from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Representative (CINCPAG-REP) on Okinawa said that the full details of Sharp’s itinerary while on Okinawa have not yet been announced.2 Girls Drown In Kabira BayNAHA, Okinawa (SS) — Two Ryukyuan girls drowned in Kabira Bay near Yaeyama Island Wednesday when they attempted to swim to shore from a boat they were riding in with their friends.The girls were identified as Fumiko Kinjo, 13, and Takako Kamimura, 12. Three other girls who also tried to swim to shore were rescued by villagers.The police report said the girls tried to swim ashore when their boat was caught in a swift current and started drifting away from shore.VI
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Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Fri, Aug 27, 1965
Page 17
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