Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965

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150
for this kind of task.
You need a contrast in
color as you get from the White Sands to the
surrounding d~sert .
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
o·,er El Paso was that I could see the Gulf
Coast.
I lmew that when I saw the Gulf Coast
we were probably too far along to pick up El
Paso.
Rather than just scrub the run, we went
ahead :::ind 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 t:q.L:lg to line up on
the target, I found out that the g-~nsight had a
light intensity and the gunsight was inadequate
for a daytime tracking task; because as you
pointed the sight down and h9.d a backgroan.d of
clouds, you just absolutely could not see the
sight .
I didn ' t have any i dea in the 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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