Gemini was the intermediate space flight program between America's first steps into space with Mercury and the amazing and unprecedented accomplishments achieved during the manned lunar expeditions of Apollo. Because of its position between these two other efforts, Gemini is probably less remembered. Still, it more than had its place in man's progress into this new frontier.
Gemini accomplishments were manyfold. They included many firsts: first astronaut-controlled maneuvering in space; first rendezvous in space of one spacecraft with another; first docking of one spacecraft with a propulsive stage and use of that stage to trans£er man to high altitude; first traverse of man into the Earth's radiation belts; first extended manned flights of a week or more in duration; first extended stays of man outside his spacecraft; first controlled reentry and precision landing; and many more.
These achievements were significant in ways one cannot truly evaluate even today, but two things stand out: (I) it was the time when America caught up and surpassed the Soviet Union in manned space flight, and (2) these demonstrations of capability were an absolute prerequisite to the phenomenal Apollo accomplishments then yet to come.
America's first manned space flight program, Mercury, involved a careful buildup of flight duration to slightly beyond one day with accompanying concerns about man's physiological response to weightlessness and other aspects of his safety and well being. In the meantime, the Russian effort had achieved durations of five days, flight of a multiple crew shortly after the Mercury Program had terminated, and the first extravehicular operation by a cosmonaut shortly before the first manned Gemini flight. The question at that time was who would perform the first rendezvous, seen as a very complex operation but absolutely needed for future space endeavors.
Author(s): Barton C. Hacker, James M. Grimwood
Edition: NASA SP-4203
Publisher: NASA
Year: 1977
Language: English
Pages: 649
City: Washington DC
Tags: NASA Project Gemini
ON THE SHOULDERS OF TITANS A History of Project Gemini
Foreword
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
I Between Mercury and Apollo
THE BACKGROUND OF RENDEZVOUS
CHALLENGE FROM THE FIELD
MERCURY AS PROLOGUE
NASA AFTER Two YEARS
NASA TEN YEAR PLAN
II The Transmutation of Mercury
NEW DIRECTIONS
STG PLUNGES AHEAD
DIRECT ASCENT VERSUS RENDEZVOUS
THE ADVANCED CAPSULE DESIGN
MODIFICATION OR TRANSMUTATION
A TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE
III From Spacecraft to Project
MORE THAN A SPACECRAFT
FLIGHT MISSION
REACHING FOR THE MOON
MERCURY MARK II BEGINS
THE LAST OBSTACLES
JUSTIFICATION FOR GEMINI
IV Organizing Project Gemini
THE PRIME CONTRACTS
RUNNING THE NEW PROJECT
THE CONTRACTORS GET MOVING
THE PARA GLIDER CONTROVERSY
A QUICK SMOOTH START
V Expansion and Crisis
CHANGING PLANS AND RISING COSTS
SOME FORESEEABLE PROBLEMS AND A SURPRISE
THE BUDGET CRISIS
REPROGRAMMING GEMINI
THE PROSPECT FOR 1963
V I Challenge and Change
BLUE GEMINI
CHAMBERLIN DEPARTS
GEMINI REGROUPS
ATTACKING PARAGLIDER AND TITANIIl PROBLEMS
A CLOUDED FUTURE
V I I The Darkest Hour
TIT AN II IN JEOPARDY
PARAGLIDER ON THE WANE
SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS BECOME MORE TROUBLESOME
A NEW HEADACHE
SIL VER LININGS
V I I I Gemini Rising
TITAN II MAKES THE GRADE, BUT NOT PARAGLIDER
MONEY AND MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS AGAIN
A SET OF BREAKTHROUGHS
Tow ARD GEMINI-TIT AN 1
TIGHTENING LAUNCH SCHEDULES
I X A Taste of Success
THE FIRST FLIGHT
POSTSCRIPTS AND PROSPECTS
GLV-2 AND THE ELEMENTS
SETBACK AND SUCCESS
DOWN TO THE WIRE
A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
X The Last Hurdle
THE MEN FOR GEMINI 3
THE MACHINES FOR GEMINI 3
PLANS FOR GEMINI 3
MANEUVERS OF "MOLLY BROWN"
X I Pillars of Confidence
FOUR DAYS AND A "WALK"
PRELUDE TO GEMINI V
THE COVERED WAGON
X I I "Spirit of '76"
"No JOY, No JOY"
THE VII/VI-A DECISION
SUITCASE FOR A FORTNIGHT
Two WEEKS IN A SPACECRAFT
Go BACK TO "Go"
THE VISITORS
THE HOME STRETCH
X I I I Agena on Trial
SICKNESS TO HEALTH
AN ALTERNATIVE TARGET
EXTRA VEHICULAR ACTIVITY PREPARATIONS
MISSION PLANNING COMES OF AGE
THE WHIRLIGIG
AGENA'S SOLO
X I V Charting New Space Lanes
TRAGEDY
THE WHAT AND How DEBATES
PREP ARA TIO NS FOR GEMINI IX
ATTEMPTED LAUNCHES
AN ANGRY ALLIGATOR
LA YING NEW TRACKS
THE SWITCH ENGINE
XV The Final Curtain
PLOTTING THE WAY UP
A HIGH RIDE
THE EV A REVIEW BOARD
THE FINALE
SUMMING UP
GEMINI EARTH PHOTOGRAPHS An Epilogue
GEOLOGY
OCEANOGRAPHY
WEATHER
WATER RESOURCES
SOURCE NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE, APPENDIXES, AND INDEX
Source Notes
Bibliographical Note
People Interviewed
Appendix A Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Appendix B Flight Data Summary
Appendix C Astronaut Flight Assignments
Appendix D
Appendix E Costs
Appendix F Worldwide Tracking Network
Appendix G Department of Defense Support
Index
THE AUTHORS
NASA HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS
HISTORIES
REFERENCE WORKS
