Documents / Official release
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.
“Harder”5 pages
128 White McDivitt Whi te COt'4FIDE~l·l1tt- you did was remove a layer off the window, rat her than put something on it. You took something off it . Except I can't possibly imagine why it was so black and opaque with the sun shining on it at certain angles . I'd like to comment on the ease of operation outside on a tether . If you've ever tried to hang on the outside of a water tower , or about an 8- foot diameter tree , you can visualize the problem I had out there . The decision to leave the hatch open was probably one of the very best ~:1at we made . I had nothing outside the space craft to stabilize myself on. There just isn ' t anything to hold onto . I think Jim will remember one time when I t r ied to hook my fingers in the RCS thrusters . I think Jim could see because- - . I could see . I was right out in front of Jim I s windo•,.r . This gave me really not hing particularly to hold ,):nto. I t didn't stabilize me at all . I had nothing really to hold onto, and so if you have ever tried to grasp an 8- foot diameter tree and shinny up it , you know the kind of feeling that I had -'ZO~<J FtDEf'<lflAt
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 340 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.