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.

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McDivitt
White
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McDivitt
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the time.
I had to say something. It is quite an impressive
view when you 're up there --the very the first
time you look out and you see it. I looked out
and all I could see was the horizon and the
blue down below us. You probably couldn't,
because as I think of it now, we were on the
side . I could see the horizon and you couldn't.
All you could see was the sky.
Right .
So I could see a little of both. I could see the
clouds , the water , and the whole smear. The
first time I saw that out the window I called
that out to Jim, and it was quite an exciting
view.
Engine No. 2 ignition-- I didn't see anything
that had to do with lighting the second engine
off. The horizon view, I just discussed . At
SECO, there was a lot of debris going by.
That was at spacecraft sep, wasn't it , rather
than SEGO?
You1',re right. You ' re absolutely right. At
SEGO, I didn't see anything other than that
the acceleration profile went down to zero. At
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