Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part I, 1965

Text

This text came with the file. It may have mistakes. When the text and the image disagree, the image is right.

190
White
McDivitt
White
McDi vitt
White
McDivitt
White
McDivitt
eorqFIDENf~L
wher e we thought we were seeing the booster ,
right where it was low on the horizon, as you
would expect to see a booster .
That old thing
was flickering away like mad .
I think that was Venus , too .
It was t he planet that was trai ling the sun by
just a very slight amount .
I made it a point
to check during the remainder of the flight ,
two or three times to see if that thing flickered
as it came up. It really did.
So , the more I
saw it flicker the more I began to doubt that
we had really seen the booster on that second
pass . Maybe we did , and maybe we didn' t .
Well, it's not really too impor tant .
No, it ' s not .
But the fact is , that little plan­
et was flickering away like mad.
Let me ask you one more question about the flick­
er.
Did you see it coming up through the air
glow? Was that where you felt it flickered?
Yes .
Everytime it was above the air glow it was loud
and clear to me .
Yes , except that you couldn' t see t he air glow
as the sun was setting.
-COMFID'ENT~