Attached to his body, underneath his G4C spacesuit, Ed White wore this bio-instrumentation lead as part of a harness that was used to measure and monitor his medical status. White wore the harness, and this lead, throughout the entire Gemini 4 mission, from June 3 to June 7, 1965.
After White (and mission commander James McDivitt) returned to an ocean splashdown on Earth, they were recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. On board the ship, was NASA biomedical administrator Harold H. Hill.
Hill worked for NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center (Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas until he retired in 1982 with more than 20 years of service. During the Gemini and Apollo programs, Hill was responsible for overseeing the transfer and setup of medical supplies between NASA facilities, including the prime recovery ships.
Hill passed away in November 2002 at the age of 84. This bio-instrumentation lead was among Hill’s archives, which included other flown artifacts, recovery ship memorabilia and autographed photos.
I am not aware of another privately held artifact that was on White’s person when he performed America’s first spacewalk. An artifact from the Future Ventures’ 🚀 Space Collection.
On June 3, 1965, at 2:45 p.m. Central time zone, Major White exited the Gemini 4 spacecraft to become the first U.S. astronaut to perform an extravehicular activity, or EVA. During his 20 minutes outside the capsule, White moved about using a "zip gun" — a hand-held maneuvering unit — while still attached to Gemini 4 by a tether and umbilical.
Flip side of the electrode:
Closeup of the connector:
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