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.

280 fr llliE.
White
McDivitt
White
have a good launch and first few orbits, a good
retro-preparation , and a good retro and r eentry ,
with the center of the mission being taken care
of by doing the experiment or doing the operationa l
check by itself without regard to what went
before or what went after. I think this is the
kind of training you really need on these long
duration flights. Anything else there , Ed?
No. I concur heartily. I think that practicing
it piecemeal is the only way you can do it .
You have any concluding comments?
I think we've been ma.king conclusions all day
long. I t hink to try to conclude them all ,
we'd never get them.