Classic Case: Gemini 4 UFO sighting

Classic Case: As part of a project I'm currently finalising relating to the most frequently discussed UFO cases of all time, I’ve been collating links to discussions of the relevant cases on ATS. I could not find any threads relating to some of those cases so decided to quickly start a few of them, including this one:


The Gemini 4 UFO sighting, involving astronaut James McDivitt, is one of the astronaut UFO encounters which appears most frequently in UFO books.

It also appears on numerous websites, including on the "UFO Evidence" website.

That website includes the following summary:

Summary: In June 1965, Major James McDivitt saw, filmed, and photographed an object, which approached the Gemini IV (3rd June – 7th June 1965) capsule in which they were orbiting the Earth, passing over Hawaii. He stated: "It had a very definite shape - a cylindrical object - it was white - it had a long arm that stuck out on the side."

A relevant skeptical article by James Oberg can be found on his website.

This incident is discussed in numerous UFO books, including:

• A 4 page discussion by Ralph Blum and Judy Blum in their “Beyond Earth: Man’s Contact with UFOs” (1974) at pages 196, 200, 204-205 (in Chapter 17) of the Bantam paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Corgi paperback edition).
  
  
• A 3 page discussion by J Allen Hynek, and Jacques Vallee in their “The Edge of Reality” (included in a list entitled “Table of UFO Sighting by Astronauts”, from a list compiled by Mr G Fawcett) (1975) at pages 63-65 (in Chapter 3) of the Henry Regnery hardback edition.
  
  

[edit on 14-1-2008 by IsaacKoi]

Astronaut UFO Sightings by James Oberg - "Debunker.com" Reports False Information About The Gemini 4 McDivitt UFO Case With Article From 1978
easynowsufoblog.blogspot.com...




relevant information about the missing photo...

according to McDivitt , the photo of the Sun glare on the window was not the photo of the ufo.

It was not the picture -- it was a picture of a sun reflection on the window."

he also said the photo of the second stage they showed him was not the picture in question...

"Thank you for sending me the slide of the Gemini-IV photograph. I very quickly identified the object in the photograph as the second stage of the Titan rocket which launched us . . . I am sure that this is not a photograph of the object which I described many times and which many people refer to as the Gemini IV UFO
www.ufologie.net...

The object I saw later was indeed not the upper stage of the Titan II used in Gemini IV. It may have been a lot of other things, but it definitely was not that upper stage."
www.jamesoberg.com...

"There are three visual sightings made by the astronauts while in orbit which, in the judgment of the writer, have not been adequately explained. These are: 1. Gemini 4, astronaut McDivitt. Observation of a cylindrical object with a protuberance. 2. Gemini 4, astronaut McDivitt. Observation of a moving bright light at a higher level than the Gemini spacecraft. 3. Gemini 7, astronaut Borman saw what he described as a ‘bogey’ flying in formation with the spacecraft."
www.ufoevidence.org...

the two known photos that are not the correct one...









according to ufologie.net and other sites, the real photo in question was never released..

NASA captioned the wrong picture as such: "(PAO 65-H-1013) was as follows: This photograph . . . shows the satellite McDivitt observed on the 20th revolution of his four-day space flight."

In conclusion, there is no certainty. The publicized picture is not the correct one, and the correct one will probably never be seen. There are many pros and cons and do not have an opinion one way or another
www.ufologie.net...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

For some, the fact that the true film was not shown is proof of NASA cover-up, they are certain NASA confiscated the real images. For McDivitt, it is not the case. He had checked image after image all his footage to retrieve the UFO, but had not found it. He thought that the footage had probably simply been thrown away, and he gave a reason: many images shot at the time of these missions are over-exposed or fuzzy, and the developers throw them away when this is the case, quite simply.

www.ufologie.net...

The object McDivitt reported remains unidentified, small 'u', from a list of plausible candidates, and that's probably where the case will remain forever. In context of later experiences by astronauts, I would argue it should NOT be considered 'unidentifiABLE' -- as in, 'lacking any POSSIBLE' prosaic explanation and hence, by elimination, evidence for an extraordinary stimulus.

There is probably a suggestive clue in that the 'unidentified' cylindrical-shaped object appeared shortly after the first-ever spaceflight attempts to rendezvous with a cylindrical-shaped object (the Titan-II stage) -- and apparently never again. When six months later Borman piloted Gemini-7 to a successful rendezvous with the same type of object from his own launching, he knew exactly what it was, and joked about a 'bogie' with Mission Control while taking excellent 16-mm out the window.

The GT-4 story does have one more thing to teach us: astronauts discussed unknown objects out their windows openly and candidly. No 'secret code words', no 'secret channels', no pain-of-death taboo on such real time discussions. The possibility of hazard to the vehicle, or a clue to the malfunctioning of the vehicle, made this sensible and hence mandatory.

Blue Book microfilm's scans

MISC-PBB1-76
MISC-PBB1-77
MISC-PBB1-78
MISC-PBB1-80
MISC-AFOSR4-501


large picture of documents
files.abovetopsecret.com...


did McDivitt get the UFO on film and did NASA somehow intercept the image that showed the object ? if it was some type of secret satellite, would it really be a surprise to anyone that they did cover it up ?