Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965

This is a preliminary transcript of Part II of the Gemini 4 (GT-4) flight crew debriefing, prepared by NASA's Spacecraft Operations Branch, Flight Crew Support Division, and dated June 18, 1965. The debriefing began aboard the recovery ship USS Wasp and ended at the Manned Spacecraft Center. In it, astronauts McDivitt and White discuss how the spacecraft systems performed, including the platform, OAMS, RCS and control modes. They also cover operational checks, visual sightings, experiments, mission planning and training, and give recommendations for future crews.

From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: 6/9/65, North Atlantic Ocean. This document is a preliminary transcript (Part II) derived from voice recordings of the Gemini 4 flight crew debriefing taken aboard the recovery ship, USS Wasp, on June 9, 1965. Part II of this document contains the “Visual Sightings” section of the debriefing (pages 196-224), where astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White describe their observations while aboard the spacecraft.

White
McDivitt
things taped together. I l eft the door open the
whole flight after we once unstowed it. I would
leave a meal floating out so that when I wanted
to get a meal I would reach up and grab the meal
that was floating loose. I would pul l the tape
out until I got a hold of the tape so I could
force another meal out of the box . Then I woul d
cut the first meal off and we'd eat it. I managed
to get all the food out of the box ~ithout getting
out of my seat. The left-hand side box had the
film stowed in it and it was easily accessible.
I think the most useful stowage place that I had
in the spacecraft was the little Volkswagen-type
bag that we had made up and bolted on the center
pedestal .
Oh , that was a jewel .
We kept our checklists, maps , data books , and
procedure books in it. When we went to sleep and
had a change of command and we wanted to get to
one of the pieces of equipment that the other
gu:y had, we almost invariably stuck it in that
little pouch . I really thi.nk the most useful
i8t~Fi8~