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
McDivitt
White
McDivitt
White
when it gets into long time, you lmow, fourteen
day flights, you can still put in 430 and 20
seconds as well as you can the regular Greenwich
Mean Time.
Yes .
I think that it wouldn't cost us any more to
have Omega make us a ten-hour watch and fix
these dials up on it so that we could keep
track 9f good elapsed time.
You've got to leave the minutes and seconds
alone there . Well, let's not argue that here
or even discuss it. I think what Ed says is
right . We were forced to run the mission in
both elapsed and Greenwich Time, and · r don ' t
think that was the way to do it. I think we
ought to really start after this elapsed time
thing quickly and get on with it.
Right . It's time to get on with this. I think
it's time to make a crusade on it. I think
everybody ' s ready for it .
Yes.
Except the few people that are fighting it,
and I think we can overcome them.