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.

215
White
McDivitt
White
McDivitt
finally just dereefed and we had an excellent
chute. It popped out and came back in . About
a quarter of it along the edge folded back in
and then popped back out again and we had a
beautiful chute. Do you have anything else on
the main chute?
No. I couldn't see it until it started to de
reef. From the dereef on, I could see the chute
and was very happy to see it.
During our descent to landing I could see the
Rand R can with both the drogue and the ~ilot
chutes attached to it. ,floating off to one side.
After we landed, I noticed that there was steam
coming out of the RCS thrusters. This steam
didn't last very long. I could see the sea dye
marker in the water. I could see the parachute
in the water .
I think you also ought to indicate that the
windows steamed up quite a bit. I could see
out a little better than you. You couldn't
even see '50 •• feet out in front of you on your
side.
No, I sure couldn't. • There was a hole down