PROJECT GEMINI The Bridge to Apollo BY CRAIG COLLINS Photos courtesy of NASA
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ABOVE: Gemini VII photographed from Gemini VI during the first rendezvous between two manned spacecraft in Earth orbit. The spacecraft practiced rendezvous and station-keeping maneuvers for one day in orbit. Gemini VI, with Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford aboard, launched December 15, 1965. Gemini VII, with Frank Borman and James A. Lovell aboard, launched December 4, 1965. OPPOSITE PAGE: Edward H. White II, pilot of the Gemini IV spacecraft, floats in the zero gravity of space with an Earth limb backdrop. The extravehicular activity (EVA) represented the first time an American had stepped outside the confines of his spacecraft. White was attached to the spacecraft by a 25-foot umbilical line and a 23-foot tether line, both wrapped in gold tape to form one cord. In his right hand, White carries a Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit (HHSMU). The visor of his helmet is gold plated to protect him from the unfiltered rays of the sun.
GEMINI III March 23, 1965 Command Pilot: Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Pilot: John W. Young 4 hours, 52 minutes, 31 seconds
16 APOLLO 11 I 50 YEARS
y the time Gordon Cooper’s final Mercury mission splashed down on March 15, 1963, the U.S. space program was well aware of the gaps in its knowledge about space travel. Mercury had achieved its goals well, but those goals, while extraordinarily ambitious, had been limited. In 1963, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) knew that humans could function normally in the weightless environment of space for a little more than a day; they knew that they could launch a spacecraft into high Earth orbit; and they knew that both astronaut and spacecraft could be safely recovered after spaceflight. But the object of both the American and Soviet space programs was the Moon, and to NASA, it was not yet clear that the trip could be achieved. A lunar voyage would necessarily demand more than one astronaut, and it would require a command module and a lunar lander to separate, carry out separate tasks, and later rendezvous and dock together. To travel to the Moon and back – a distance, in total, of nearly a half-million miles – would require astronauts to remain in space for at least two weeks. The spacecraft itself would need to be powered for a much longer period than was possible with the kinds of batteries used in a Mercury capsule, and it would have to be controlled by the astronaut to a much greater degree. If there were a problem with the docking mechanism, astronauts would have to exit one spacecraft and make their way to another while in orbit – an extravehicular activity (EVA) or “spacewalk.” It wasn’t as if NASA had been caught flat-footed by these issues. Even as the hardware for Apollo was being designed, NASA had been developing a separate “Mercury Mark II” program that would test the hardware, systems, and techniques needed to reach the Moon. The program was announced in December 1961, and became officially known as “Gemini,” named for the stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini (Latin for “twins”), which symbolized both the program’s two-man crew and its rendezvous mission.
GEMINI IV June 3-7, 1965 Command Pilot: James A. McDivitt Pilot: Edward H. White II 4 days, 1 hour, 56 minutes, 12 seconds. This marked the first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American, a 22-minute spacewalk by White.
GEMINI V Aug. 21-29, 1965 Command Pilot: Gordon Cooper Pilot: Charles “Pete” Conrad, Jr. 7 days, 22 hours, 55 minutes, 14 seconds. Gemini V made the first weeklong flight and the first use of fuel cells for electrical power. It also completed 120 orbits.
GEMINI VII Dec. 4-18, 1965 Command Pilot: Frank Borman, Jr. Pilot: James A. Lovell, Jr. 13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes, 1 second. Primary objective was to see whether humans could live in space for 14 days. Gemini VII was also used as a rendezvous target for Gemini VI-A.
