Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965

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150
Ei0HFIBE~TIAL
for this kind of task.
You need a contrast in
color as you get from the White Sands to the
surrounding d,9sert.
The best of all is a water­
land interface or border.
As we came across
the United States, I think we picked up El Paso
just as we were over i t , but we weren ' t pointed
down at the town.
We were still pointed well
out in advance.
The only clue that we were
over El Paso was that I could see the Gulf
Coast.
I knew that when I saw the Gulf Coast
we were probably too far al ong to pick up El
Paso.
Rather than just scrub the run , we went
ahead and made a run on a pair of sand spits
with a channel between them in the vicinity of
Corpus Christi.
We picked up a target well in
advance, and as I started tr-JLag t o line up on
the target , I found out that the gunsight had a
light intensity and the gunsight was inadequate
for a daytime tracking task; because as you
pointed the sight down and had a background of
clouds , you just absolutely could not see the
sight .
I didn ' t have any idea in thA world where
it was p,-,i.nting.
When you put it on the dark
land, it seemed to be adequate, but I think we
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