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Gemini 4 Experiment Debriefing, 1967

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · 1965 · 224 pages · text from the file's own layer

This NASA file from 1965 combines Mission Operation Report M-913-65-04 on the Gemini 4 (GT-4) flight with related correspondence. Memoranda from the Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight describe the planned four-day mission with James McDivitt and Edward White, including a spacewalk, a rendezvous with the booster second stage and thirteen experiments. Later letters and telegrams from NASA's Manned Space Science office concern the astronaut debriefing and requests for GT-4 photography and film for scientific analysis.

From the source: Release of 2026-06-12 Incident: June 3-7, 1965, Low Earth Orbit. Gemini IV was the second crewed mission of the Gemini series. Astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White successfully completed the four-day flight between June 3 and June 7, 1965. The mission included the first American spacewalk. This collection of documents contains a transcription of the astronauts recounting their observations of bright particles outside the spacecraft, dated circa June 25, 1967, on pages 78-81, and page 101.

Mission Operation Report
No. M-913-65-04
MEMORANDUM May 24, 1965
To A/Administrator
From M/Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight
Subject: Gemini Flight Number Four (GT-4)
GT-4, the fourth in a series of twelve planned Gemini flights is scheduled to
be launched from Complex 19 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on or after
3 June 1965. This wi 11 be the second manned Gemini mission and the longest
ever attempted by a two-man crew. The purpose of the mission is to further
demonstrate manned space flight for a period of four days.
The nominal launch time is 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). The space vehicle is
to be launched on an azimuth of 72 degrees and the spacecraft wi 11 be inserted
into an initial orbit of 87-161 N.M. at an orbital inclination of 32.5 degrees.
The 62 revolution mission will have a duration of approximately 97 hours and 50
minutes. The primary and backup flight crews are of the "new generation, 11 being
members of the second group of astronauts. James A. McDivitt will be the
command pilot and Edward H. White, II will be the pilot. Because the duration
of the flight is one of the most significant aspects of their mission, the post-
flight activities will involve expanded medical evaluation as compared with
previous missions, including at least 24 hours aboard the recovery aircraft carrier,
the USS WASP.
After conducting various orbital maneuvers and the thirteen experiments during the
four-day mission, the spacecraft wi 11 reenter and touchdown approximately 400
miles southwest of Bermuda for a water landing and carrier retrieval.
Enclosure
MOR Noo M-913-65-04
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 224 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.