Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965

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McDivitt
White
McDivitt
White
off to the side, and then it went out of my view.
Okay.
On retrofire there weren't any sightings
to observe.
Did you see anything outside, F.d?
Did
you see any flames or anything like '. that?
No, I didn't.
I don't think there was much there. The retro pack
jettison- -we didn't see it jettison, but shortly after
that we had rolled upside down and we were flying in,
and I saw the retro adapter floating around on the
left side. It had turned around so that it was small­
end-forward rather than blunt-end-forward. You could
see the whip antenna sticking out the side, the four
retrorockets, cross-beams, and the plumbing around
the edges. It was quite a sight. It drifted out
behind us until it got out a couple or 300 feet. It
started glowing a little on the leading edge. It
started fading farther and farther behind us as we
reentered. It finally went from a dull glow to a
bright one, and finally you could see the leading
edge of it eroding away. Finally, it vre.s just a
ball of flame back there.
I thought that was quite a sight, too. It kind
of set the modus
for our reentry, of observing