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This photograph is an enlargement of a frame from a 16mm motion picture camera which was mounted within the spacecraft to take film through the hatch window. The Gemini-Titan II spacecraft at this point is in the reentry phase of its return through the Earth’s atmosphere. Peak heating exists on the spacecraft heat shield. The white glow is produced by ionised gases. The greenish tinge to the white glow is probably the contribution of the ablative products (of the heat shield) as they are known to have strong spectral lines in the green region.

“The flight was launched successfully from Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy at 9:03:59 a.m. EST (14:03:59.861 UT) to a maximum altitude of 171.2 km. The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch retrorockets were fired and the spacecraft cartwheeled into a reentry attitude. The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and landed by parachute in the Atlantic Ocean 3419 km southeast of the launch site 18 minutes 16 seconds after launch. The landing was 26 km short of the planned impact point” (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=GEMINI2).

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Thomas J. Parret was a U.S. Navy photographer.

NASA and McDonnell aircraft technicians examine the reentry module which “was successfully recovered by the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lake Champlain, which was 84 km from the splashdown point, at 15:52 UT (10:52 a.m. EST). The capsule was in excellent condition and the heat shield and retrorockets functioned as planned. The temperature in the cooling system of the spacecraft was found to be too high. The reentry module consisted mainly of the pressurized cabin which was to hold the two Gemini astronauts on future missions. Instrumentation pallets holding cameras, accelerometers, batteries, and other devices were situated in the astronaut area for this mission. Separating the reentry module from the retrorocket section of the adaptor at its base was a curved silicone elastomer ablative heat shield. The module was composed predominantly of titanium and nickel-alloy with beryllium shingles. At the narrow top of the module was the cylindrical reentry control system section and above this the rendezvous and recovery section which holds the reentry parachutes. The cabin held two seats equipped with emergency ejection devices, instrument panels, life support equipment, and equipment stowage compartments in a total pressurized volume of about 2.25 cubic meters. Two large hatches with small windows could be opened outward, one positioned above each seat” (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=GEMINI2)