Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965
- Date
- 9 Jun 1965
- Place
- Low Earth Orbit
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Continuation of the Gemini 4 debrief (McDivitt and White). Again documents the 'fireflies' particle phenomenon in detail, self-explained by the crew as booster fuel-dump particles. The notable item is McDivitt and White's account of a phenomenon seen twice at night, described as parallel, wavy, curtain-like lines of light radiating up from the Earth toward the spacecraft, visually similar to the Aurora Borealis but explicitly stated by both crewmen to be closer to the spacecraft and not within the airglow layer; McDivitt photographed it. No identification or explanation is offered anywhere in the sampled text.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
No explanation is offered in the sampled text; both crewmen explicitly reject the possibility it was ordinary airglow, and no conventional identification is discussed or concluded in this document.
- Agency
- NASA
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- Yes: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Two independent crew witnesses, observed on two separate occasions, photographed, with a specific and repeated description that both crewmen explicitly distinguish from the known airglow layer; naked-eye/photographic only (no radar or second instrument), and the description (parallel radiating light curtains near Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere) is consistent with an aurora australis viewed obliquely from orbit, a known phenomenon this document does not name or rule out.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- James McDivitt (CDR) and Edward White (Pilot), both independently observed it
- Sensors
- Visual, photography (McDivitt took pictures)
- Shape
- Parallel, wavy, curved lines/rays of light, like a curtain
- Size
- Reached an altitude McDivitt estimated at roughly half the spacecraft's own (about 50-60 miles)
- Lights and colour
- Described like Aurora Borealis in appearance
- Motion
- In motion, wiggling back and forth like neon-sign lights; not stationary
- Duration
- Each observation lasted at least 3-4 minutes as it moved across the field of view
- Altitude or range
- Estimated roughly halfway between the spacecraft and the horizon, closer than the horizon, near Australia both times
Pentagon files
Preliminary Gemini 4 Crew Debriefing, Part II, 1965
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
McDivitt described a phenomenon seen twice at night, resembling parallel wavy lines like the Aurora Borealis but positioned below and closer than the airglow layer, in motion like a wiggling neon sign.
- Unverified
White independently confirmed seeing the same phenomenon when it moved into his field of view, corroborating McDivitt was not seeing things.
- Unverified
McDivitt insisted the phenomenon was definitely not in the airglow layer and was considerably closer to the spacecraft than the horizon.