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Gemini Project |
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The second U.S. manned space program was announced in January 1962. Its two-man crew
gave its name ,GEMINI . Project Gemini was a transitional step between the Mercury program and the actual landing a man on the moon.
Its success was critical to achieving the goal of reaching the MOON. The main objectives of the ten Gemini missions
spanning a period of 20 months from 1965 to 1966 were: 1) To subject man and equipment to space flight up to two weeks in duration .
2) To Rendezvousing and docking with other orbit vehicle, 3) To perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing at preselected
point on land. which were essential skills for the later apollo missions. With Gemini, american erased all doubts that we could make
it to the moon. Gemini did many other things such as rendezvous and docking.
The Gemini craft was an enlargement of the Mercury capsule and the size were
5.8 m (19 ft )long , 3 m.( 10 ft ) in diameter , it had to fit two astronauts. Gemini was composed of two major components , the Adapter Module
and Re-entry Module. Prior to Re-entry , the Re-entry Module was seperated from Adapter Module which will be remained in orbits with no
provision for recovery.The Titan rocket , more powerful than Redstone ,placed the larger spacecraft into orbit. Only the first capsule
that has the nicknamed " MOLLY BROWN ".
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Manned space flight for Gemini Project |
Dated Mission Crew Spacecraft Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
March 23 , 1965 Gemini 3 Gus Grissom , John Young Molly Brown Titan 4 hrs.52 min.31 sec.
First manned Gemini flight , three orbits. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
June 3-7 , 1965 Gemini 4 James Mcdivitt , Edward White Titan 4 days 1 hr. 56 min.12 sec.
First ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA):White's "space walk "was the first space walk and duration of 22 min. EVA exercise. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
August 21-29 , 1965 Gemini 5 Gordon Cooper , Charles Conrad Titan 7 days 22 hrs.55 min.14 sec.
Evaluated guidance and navigation system for future rendezvous missions. Completed 120 orbits. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
December 4-18 , 1965 Gemini 7 Frank Borman , James Lovell Titan 13 days 18 hrs.35 min.1 sec.
Gemini 7 was used for rendezvous due to Gemini 6 was scrubbed .The primary objective was to determine whether humans could live in space for 14 days. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
December 15-16 , 1965 Gemini 6A Walter Schirra , Thomas Stafford Titan 1 day 1 hrs.51 min.24 sec.
First space rendezvous accomplished with Gemini 7 ,station keeping for over 5 hrs. at distances from 0.3 to 90 m.(1 to 295 ft). |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
March 16 , 1966 Gemini 8 Neil Armstrong , David Scott Titan 10 hrs.41 min.26 sec.
Accomplised first docking with another space vehicle , an unmanned Agena stage. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
June 3-6 , 1966 Gemini 9A Thomas Stafford , Eugene Cernan Titan 3 days 21 hrs.
To rendezvous and docking with augmented target docking adapter (ATDA) after original Agena target failed to orbit.Three different types of rendezvous, 2 hrs. of EVA, and 44 orbits were completed. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
July 18-21 , 1966 Gemini 10 John Young , Michael Collins Titan 2 days 22 hrs.46 min.39 sec.
First use of Agena target vehicle's propulsion systems. Spacecraft also rendezvoused with Gemini 8 target vehicle.Collins had 49 min. of EVA standing in the hatch and 39 min. of EVA to retrieve experiment from Agena stage. 43 orbits completed. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
September 12-15 , 1966 Gemini 11 Charles Conrad , Richard Gordon Titan 2 day 23 hrs.17 min.8 sec.
Gemini record altitude , 1189.3 km.(739.2 mi),reached using Agena propulsion system after first orbit rendezvous and docking. Gordon made 33 min. EVA and 2 hrs.stand up EVA. 44 orbits. |
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Dated Mission Crew Launch Vehicle Duration Milestone |
November11-15 , 1966 Gemini 12 James Lovell , Buzz Aldrin Titan 3 days 22 hrs.34 min. 31 sec.
Final Gemini flight. Rendezvoused and docking with its target Agena and kept station with it during EVA . Aldrin performed 1 space walk and 2 standup excercises totaling 5 hrs.30 min. of EVA time. |
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