American Eagle: 5 Fun Facts About Gemini 4

June 3, 2025 is the 60th anniversary of Gemini 4, the second manned flight of the Gemini program and had the first American extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The mission's command pilot was Jim McDivitt and its pilot was Ed White, both rookies from NASA's second class of astronauts. The crew's backup astronauts were Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, the future prime crew of Gemini 7. Let's look at five interesting facts about Gemini 4!

Ed White and Jim McDivitt (NASA)

1. America the Beautiful

Five years before Apollo 11 was preparing to land men on the moon for the first time, astronauts McDivitt and White chose the bald eagle to represent their Gemini 4 mission [1]. Though Gemini 5 was the first crew to wear embroidered space patches on their spacesuits, the crews of Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 designed their own insignias. McDivitt and White carried silver medallions with artwork of a bald eagle perched atop a Gemini spacecraft with five stars in the background. The inclusion of the crew's full names (first and last names with middle initials and applicable suffixes) is unique to Gemini 3's and Gemini 4's insignia.

Flown Gemini 4 silver medallion with insignia artwork on its face and the mission's dates on its reverse. Modern colored embroidered patches are easy to find. (Heritage Auctions)

McDivitt and White chose the name American Eagle for their spacecraft. However, after Gemini 3 concluded in March 1965, NASA stopped allowing its astronauts to name their spacecraft, a military tradition carried over by the Mercury Seven astronauts. Unhappy with this new rule, the duo had a patch of the American flag sewn onto their spacesuits, becoming the very first of hundreds of space travelers around the world to wear their home country's flag into space [2].

Ed White exiting the capsule at the start of his EVA— the American flag patch is on his left shoulder (NASA)

2. Live from Cape Canaveral

Gemini 4 lifted off from Launch Complex 19 on Cape Kennedy on June 3, 1965 at 10:16 AM local time. While it was not the first manned launch from pad 19 nor the first manned launch of the Gemini-Titan II rocket, it was the first internationally televised rocket launch. Intelsat I, nicknamed Early Bird, was the first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite and entered Earth orbit in April 1965. Twelve European nations received coverage of Gemini 4's launch. Early Bird also provided the first live coverage of a spacecraft splashdown (Gemini 6A) in December and supported the broadcasting of Apollo 11's flight to international audiences.

Liftoff of Gemini 4 (NASA)

3. Space City

Gemini 4 was the first mission controlled in Texas rather than Florida. The prior Mercury and Gemini missions were controlled by the Mercury Control Center on Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) and as missions got more complex, it was evident a larger facility was needed. The Mission Control Center at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas (now the Johnson Space Center) became operational in mid-1965 and has managed flight operations for every crewed NASA mission since. Mission Operations Control Room 2, which controlled all Gemini flights other than Gemini 3 and all Apollo Saturn V flights, was designated a National Historic Landmark 1985 and retired in 1992 after the conclusion of the STS-53 Discovery mission. It was later converted to its Apollo-era configuration for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and can be toured via Space Center Houston. In April 2011, the Mission Control Center was renamed to the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center after NASA's first Flight Director, Chris Kraft [3].

McDivitt's wife and White's family at the new Mission Control Center. (Left to right) Patricia McDivitt, Bonnie White, Patricia White, Flight Director Chris Kraft (seated) and Ed White III (standing). They spoke to the astronauts as they passed over the U.S. (NASA)

The Mercury Control Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and served as a stop for tourists visiting the Cape until the 1990s. The building, full of asbestos and in poor condition due to decades of exposure to the coast's salty air, was demolished in May 2010. A historical marker was erected in 2011. The control room consoles were rescued and refurbished, and since 1999, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex now houses a re-creation of the MCC.

Gus Grissom, Gene Cernan, and Roger Chaffee served as Capsule Communicators, or CAPCOMs for Gemini 4.

White and McDivitt in the Gemini Crew Simulator at Cape Canaveral (NASA)

4. Feeling Like a Million Dollars

About 4.5 hours into the mission, White was ready to fulfill Gemini 4's secondary objective— perform the first American EVA. He began his "spacewalk", as it would be colloquially called, over Hawaii by sticking hit feet out of his open hatch and drifting up and out of the cockpit. Tied to a tether, White floated around the outside of his and McDivitt's capsule, took photos, and maneuvered using the Hand Held Maneuvering Unit, a pressurized oxygen-jet gun informally called the "zip gun"— losing a thermal glove in the process and exclaiming to Mission Control, "I feel like a million dollars!" The "zip gun" is now on display at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. He was reluctant to come back in, but the astronauts were approaching the solar terminator and would soon be enveloped in complete darkness, as well as be out of communication with the Bermuda tracking station. White ended his EVA after 23 minutes— 10 minutes longer than it had been planned— and let Mission Control know it was "the saddest moment of [his] life."

White performing his EVA— the "zip gun" is in his right hand (NASA)

White's EVA was NASA's response to the Soviet's EVA performed a few months prior but was conceived almost a year prior. On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to walk in space during Voskhod 2. While the final "go" to perform the first American EVA was not given until the week before liftoff, the possibility of some sort of EVA taking place during Gemini 4 actually dates back to July 1964. At the press conference where the prime and backup crews were announced to the public, Gemini Deputy Manager Kenneth Kleinknecht mentioned the possibility of having an astronaut open the hatch and stick his head out while in space. On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini states Gemini 4 "first appeared as the program's lead-off EVA mission in a 'Program Plan for Gemini Extravehicular Operation,' during January 1964." [4] The Soviet achievement urged the Manned Spacecraft Center to include an EVA to Gemini 4's objectives and on May 25, White's attempt to walk in space was approved.

Ed White high above the Earth (NASA)

5. Orbit With Me

With the first American EVA complete, Gemini 4 now focused on carrying out its primary mission objective of evaluating work procedures, schedules, and flight plans for astronauts spending an extended period of time in space, setting a new manned space endurance record for the U.S. in the process. The longest manned American flight up to this point was Gordon Cooper's Mercury-Atlas 9 mission in 1963. With a duration of 34 hours and 19 minutes, it was the first manned American spaceflight to exceed one day in length [5]. Gemini 3 lasted just under five hours. Gemini 4 would spend four days in orbit.

Gemini 4 attempted to rendezvous with the spent Titan second stage during their first orbit, but depleted fuel, a lack of a tracking radar, and other challenges resulted in Mission Control calling off the stationkeeping exercise. Eleven experiments were performed by McDivitt and White, including measuring radiation surrounding the spacecraft, using a bungee cord for exercise, and using a sextant for spacecraft navigation to determine its feasibility for use during future Apollo missions. During the 48th of 62 orbits, the onboard computer malfunctioned and later crashed, so Gemini 4 could not perform their planned computer-controlled reentry. During orbit 62 and after nearly 98 hours in space, the spacecraft performed a zero-lift ballistic reentry (similar to the reentry of Mercury capsules) and splashed down about 450 miles (725 km) east of Cape Kennedy in the west Atlantic Ocean. The capsule is now in the possession of the National Air and Space Museum.

McDivitt and White inside their spacecraft (NASA)

Honorable Mention: Anchors Aweigh

Gemini 4 was the first of multiple manned spacecraft to be recovered by the USS Wasp (CV-18). Wasp was an Essex-class aircraft carrier built during World War II and the tenth of eleven Continental and U.S. Navy ships to bear the name. She received eight battle stars for her participation in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and providing air support during the Battle of Guam. After the war, she was modernized and served in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. Wasp was the recovery ship for five Gemini missions— half of the program's manned flights. Gemini 4 in June 1965, the dual Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 in December 1965, Gemini 9A in June 1966, and Gemini 12 in November 1966 were all plucked out of the Ocean by the USS Wasp. The ship was also a backup recovery vessel for Gordon Cooper and his Mercury-Atlas 9 Faith 7 capsule in 1963, but they were retrieved by the USS Kearsarge. Wasp was decommissioned in 1972 and sold for scrap in 1973.

Gemini 4 capsule hoisted aboard the USS Wasp (NASA)

In spring 1966, McDivitt and White were transferred to the Apollo program. White served as backup command pilot for Gemini 7 before being assigned as senior pilot of the first manned Apollo mission, AS-204. Gemini 4's CAPCOMs Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee were assigned as commander and pilot, respectively. McDivitt was assigned as the mission's backup commander, but his crew was replaced by Wally Schirra's crew in December. McDivitt's crew was named the prime crew of a new mission that aimed to fly both the Apollo Command/Service Module and the Lunar Module (LM). The astronauts of AS-204 were killed when their spacecraft's cockpit caught fire on the launch pad on January 27, 1967.

Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott, and Rusty Schweickart flew Apollo 9, the third manned Apollo mission, in March 1969 and evaluated the LM's performance in low Earth orbit. From May to August, McDivitt served as Manager of Lunar Landing Operations and in August, was named Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program. He oversaw Apollo's 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, and was promoted to brigadier general in 1972. He retired from both NASA and the Navy in July 1972 and worked in industry until 1995.

The prime (seated) and original backup (standing) crews of AS-204, posthumously re-designated Apollo 1. White is on the left and McDivitt is in the center (NASA)

McDivitt and White were welcomed home with a ticker tape parade in Chicago, Illinois and were visited by President Lyndon B. Johnson in Houston. They attended the Paris International Air Show later in June and met Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space [6]. The songs "Jim 'n' I, Him 'n' I, Flying in the Gemini" by the New Christy Minstrels (1965) and "The Walk of Ed White" by Up With People (1969) tell the story of Gemini 4's flight and White's EVA.

Gemini 4 approached but did not surpass the five-day long Soviet Vostok 5 mission and proved to the world American astronauts were capable of not only working but "walking" in space. Gemini 5 would attempt to double Gemini 4's time spent in space and break the world record for longest manned space mission.

Gagarin, White, and McDivitt shake hands. Seated is Vice President Hubert Humphrey and standing between White and McDivitt is French Premier Georges Pompidou (NASA)

Author's note: Thanks for reading and be sure to like and share!

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[1] While Gemini 4 and Apollo 11 used the bald eagle, a species native to North America, two earlier manned Soviet missions used the golden eagle, or Berkut, which lives throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Berkut was the callsign of Pavel Popovich's Vostok 4 spacecraft in 1962 and the name of Alexei Leonov's Voskhod 2 EVA suit. Oryol ("Eagle") was also the callsign for Gherman Titov's Vostok 2 spacecraft in 1961.

[2] Prior Mercury and Gemini astronauts wore only a name tape and the NASA meatball on their spacesuits. Soviet cosmonauts wore a Cyrillic "CCCP" (Cyrillic for USSR) on their spacesuit helmets and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, wore a patch of a dove clutching an olive branch on her thermal garment under her spacesuit during her 1963 Vostok 6 flight.

[3] Kraft also served as Johnson Space Center Director from 1972 to 1982.

[4] According to this book, a few reporters called the spacecraft "Little Eva" in reference to the mission's EVA. Little Eva was a signer in the 1960s best known for her 1962 hit "The Loco-Motion," though "Little Eva" is also the name of a USAAF B-24 Liberator that crashed in Australia in 1942. Do with that what you will.

[5] Mercury-Atlas 6 and Mercury-Atlas 7 had nearly identical flight durations of 4 hours and 55 minutes and 4 hours and 56 minutes, respectively. Mercury-Atlas 8 lasted 9 hours and 13 minutes.

[6] The first meeting of astronauts and cosmonauts was actually in May 1962 when Gherman Titov, the second man to orbit Earth, toured the United States with John Glenn. Titov also met Alan Shepard, President John F. Kennedy, and other dignitaries of the space program.

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Bibliography

• Caiella, J. M. "Two Navies, Three Names." U.S. Naval Institute, June 2023. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/june/two-navies-three-names

• "Christopher C. Kraft, Jr." NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/christopher-c-kraft-jr/

• "Composite Air-to-Ground an Onboard Voice Tape Transcription of the GT-4 Mission." https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/mission_trans/GT04_TEC.PDF

• Collins, Michael. Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974.

• Evans, Ben. "'Examinations of Some Kind': The Walk of Ed White." AmericaSpace, June 2012. https://www.americaspace.com/2012/06/06/examinations-of-some-kind-the-walk-of-ed-white/

• "Gemini 4." NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-043A

• Hacker, Barton C. and Grimwood, James M. "On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini." NASA, 1977. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19780012208/downloads/19780012208.pdf

• Uri, John. "60 Years Ago: Astronaut Glenn Meets Cosmonaut Titov." NASA, May 2022. https://www.nasa.gov/history/60-years-ago-astronaut-glenn-meets-cosmonaut-titov/

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• "Orbit with Me" — performed by Sonny Sheather and the Stardusters

This post was written entirely without the use of AI (sorry HAL). Go Cats!