The prime crew for the Gemini-XII mission Ed White and Jim McDivitt
The prime crew for the Gemini-XII mission Ed White and Jim McDivitt
The crews for the Gemini-IV mission were selected on July 27, 1964. Prime crew would be: James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White, and the back-up crew would be: Frank Borman and James Lovell.
The Gemini-IV mission was a four day flight. Lauch was on June 3, 1965. This flight was the first of three successive long duration missions during the Gemini programm. The crew McDivitt and White were the first American astronauts to open a spacecraft hatch and have a member participate in extravehicular activity.The hatch was open for 36 minutes and White was outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes of that time.
-To demonstrate and evaluate the performance of spacecraft systems for a period of approximately four days in space.
-To evaluate the effects of prolonged exposure to the space environment, a requirement in preparation for missions of longer duration.
-To demonstrate the fasibility of extravehicular activity.
-To execute 11 experiments.
During its flight Gemini-IV attained a maximum apogee of 159.0 miles and a low perigee of 86.1 miles. The landing came on June 7, 1965, in the western Atlantic after 97 hours, 56 minutes, and 12 seconds of spaceflight. The landing time was 12:12:12 pm EST. The impact point was approximately 50 miles up-range from the prime recovery ship, the USS Wasp. The crew recovery was effected at 1:09 pm ans the spacecraft was recovered at 2:28 pm.
The prime and back-up crews for the Gemini-IV mission Ed White, Jim McDivitt, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell.