Documents / Official release

Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part I, 1965

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · 1965-06-09 · 340 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a preliminary transcript of Part I of the Gemini 4 (GT-4) flight crew debriefing. The Spacecraft Operations Branch of NASA's Flight Crew Support Division prepared it on June 16, 1965, from recordings of the debriefing held aboard the USS Wasp on June 9, 1965. In it, astronauts McDivitt and White describe the mission from an operational viewpoint, covering countdown, powered flight, insertion, orbital operations, reentry, landing and recovery. According to the preface, visual sightings were left for a later part.

From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: 6/9/65, North Atlantic Ocean. This document is a preliminary transcript (Part I) derived from voice recordings of the Gemini 4 flight crew debriefing taken aboard the recovery ship, USS Wasp, on June 9, 1965. Astronaut Ed White recounts seeing “sparkles” during the flight.

Open the PDF at page 246 Original source ↗

“white light”27 pages

  • p. 27 …2 White Roll Program McDivitt White McDivitt White 2. 3 McDivitt White Pitch Program McDivitt White…
  • p. 32 24 White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt 2.12 BEX;O McDivitt - COt~FIDEt ◄ TIM No…
  • p. 33 …14 Engine 2 I gnition McDivitt White McDivitt White light OFF, Stage 1 lights OFF. At…
  • p. 34 26 McDivitt Whit e McDivitt White McDivi tt 2 . 15 RGS Initiate McDivitt 'COl'4FIDEl'ff…
  • p. 39 31 2.18 Acceleration McDivitt White McDivitt White 2 . 19 SECO McDivitt White McDivitt Well we…
  • p. 67 McDivitt White McDivitt little pa r t icles , and this was at sunset . As the flight…
  • p. 68 60 CO·N·F~DENTIM White McDivitt rates that we already had . We were into darkness…
  • p. 69 61 White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt €01~FtDcNfJA~ opposed on the center of the booster…
  • p. 70 …When I could see these two lights, I had a pretty good impression of whether I…
  • p. 71 McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt It looked to me like we could have gotten as close…
  • p. 72 White McDivitt saw two lights again . I don ' t lmow if you did or not . I…
  • p. 73 …White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt EONftE>ENllAL.. double blink of the lights for…
  • p. 74 66 GOt\fPID Etft+A L White McDivitt White McDivitt and I thought at least we…
  • p. 85 77 White McDivitt £0N·~ll;)ENTIAl- because looking at a single light at night doesn't…
  • p. 199 191 White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt That's right . I nitially you saw…
  • p. 217 209 McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivit t White McDivitt White McDivitt Yes . This is where we…
  • p. 240 232 McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt certainly could tell on the gage…
  • p. 241 233 White McDivitt White McDivitt as a sequence of pictures every five minutes. The sequence is…
  • p. 245 237 White McDivitt White McDivitt nose down attitude, with a pitch up rate of about t…
  • p. 246 White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt What time do you have me…
  • p. 247 White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White 239~K)ENTIM. plan , 30 minutes to…
  • p. 255 White McDivitt White I lmow I went to sleep at 93. I went to sleep in…
  • p. 261 253 McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt We had that on the l…
  • p. 274 266 White McDivitt first clue that the TRS was ahead of the ground time . This is…
  • p. 279 271 McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt Whi t e McDivitt was gone . That ' s when Ed…
  • p. 289 281 White McDivitt McDi vitt 5.9 Communications McDivitt White McDivitt 5. 10 Update /4ONFl0-ENflA…
  • p. 294 286 White McDivitt McDivitt White McDivitt White McDivitt White ~ 0 t>J FI l;)fNTIAi. Whichever…
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What time do you have me waking up? I know about
what time I woke up.
You woke up around 75 :30 or so . I was going to
do an Orbit Nav Check No . 10, and we were over
the States . They wanted us to turn on the
computer to send us a load, so I did . That 's
probably what woke you up , when I was trying to
turn on the computer with the swizzle stick.
Yes .
But this time the computer stuck in the on
position.
When you tried to turn it off.
And it wouldn ' t go off .
I remember watching. I saw the mal light go on.
So it stayed on, and that ' s when we had all of our
computer trouble , which you'll check and cover in
systems. Oh, the time the malfunction light
came on was right when we were about to turn it
off.
I 'd say around 75 :15 or something. In that area?
75 : 50 CS~- Hawaii . I think it was about 75 : 50 or
thereabouts . They sure do have some peculiar
times here. It only takes , according to flight
FlOENf lA b

Cases discussed

About this file

Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 340 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.