Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part I, 1965

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.

95CONFIDE~il~l-
McDivitt
White
McDivitt
Whit9
McDivitt
befoce we go out .
I think w~ w·are in a situation w~ere it would
probably hava gone all right . We hr-ui cor:ipl,3ted
hai rlo:w as far as the check.i.'lg w~nt , and I
juat di:in 1
t feel th'3.t we were i11 the right
shape . Ed didn't think we were , and besides ,
could see Bd. He coul,ln I t see himself . ~d
look'.-!d a.wf0
.1lly hot , s.rvl h;? l:iokt~d like he wa:1
getting a little pooped out from playl ng c1..-:-01md
with that big suit . I tho~ght that the best
thing for his sake , e.nd I kn~w h~~ ·t1oul:. t .
It wa,, Carr1arv0n . It was just before we
So , we postponed it until the next orbit . As a
matter of fact , after that w~ j1rnt sat ther::! .
We d idri I t dn a thi-ig for abor.1: 10 mi.nutes . I
let Ed cool off a li.ttle bit . We were on two-
EON~l(;)ENTIAL
I