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PROJECT MERCURY

PROJECT MERCURY. Highlights Yuri Gagarin (Vostok 1) 1 orbit Shepard’s flight May 1961 (suborbital) Titov, Vostok II, 17 orbits Glenn’s flight first orbital flight (Feb 1962) May 1963 Cooper, 22 orbits (34 hours). Project Gemini.

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PROJECT MERCURY

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  1. PROJECT MERCURY Highlights • Yuri Gagarin (Vostok 1) 1 orbit • Shepard’s flight May 1961 (suborbital) • Titov, Vostok II, 17 orbits • Glenn’s flight first orbital flight (Feb 1962) • May 1963 Cooper, 22 orbits (34 hours)

  2. Project Gemini • Critical link between Mercury and Apollo for putting a man on the moon • Designed to accomplish four tasks: • (1) Carry two people • (2) Perform docking maneuvers • (3) Extravehicular activity or EVA • (4) Extended time in space

  3. Project Gemini Gemini Modules • Crew compartment • Equipment module for electrical power, communication, and control thrusters • Adapter ring connecting both modules

  4. Project Gemini

  5. Project Gemini

  6. Project Gemini • Total of 10 Gemini missions, from March 1965-November 1966 • Gemini was not pure pioneering like Mercury, nor did it have the excitement of Apollo. But its success was critical to Kennedy's goal of reaching the Moon "by decade's end." • Manned Spacecraft Center (renamed the Johnson Space Center in 1973) outside Houston, Texas, took over the role of Mission Control. • Sixteen new astronauts chalked up experience in space.

  7. Project Gemini • Gemini 3 March 23, 1965 • Crew: Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John W. Young • The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grissom nicknamed the Gemini 3 spacecraft "Molly Brown," hoping that it would not duplicate his experience with Liberty Bell 7. • The mission's primary goal was to test the new, maneuverable Gemini spacecraft. In space, the crew fired thrusters to change the shape of their orbit, shift their orbital plane slightly, and drop to a lower altitude.

  8. Project Gemini • Gemini IV, June 3­7, 1965 • Crew: James A McDivitt and Edward H. White II • The plan for this four-day, 62-orbit mission was for Gemini IV to fly in formation with the spent second stage of its Titan 2 booster in orbit. • The mission's highlight was White's 22-minute space walk, the first ever for an American. Tied to a tether and using a handheld "zip gun" to maneuver himself, White swam through space while McDivitt took photographs. Gemini IV set a record for flight duration. It also was the first use of the new Mission Control Center outside Houston

  9. Project Gemini • Gemini V, August 21 ­29, 1965 • Crew: L. Gordon Cooper. Jr. and Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. • Gemini V doubled the space-flight record to eight days

  10. Project Gemini • Gemini VII, December 4-18, 1965 • Crew: Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr. • 14-day mission flew the most experiments (20) of any Gemini mission. • High point of the mission was the rendezvous with Gemini VI.

  11. The David Clark G5C lightweight space suit was developed for long duration Project Gemini missions. It was designed to be easily removed during flight and to provide greater comfort than the typical space suits then in use. Astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell used suits of this type during their 14 day Gemini VII mission in December 1965. This suit was tailored for astronaut Michael Collins for ground training purposes. Go to the next display Return to the Space Flight Main Page

  12. Project Gemini • Gemini VI, December 15­16, 1965 • Crew: Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford • A rendezvous and docking with an unmanned Agena target was this mission's original objective. An alternate mission was substituted: a meeting in space of two Gemini spacecraft. • Schirra rendezvoused with Gemini VII spacecraft in orbit December 15. Once in formation, the two Gemini capsules flew around each other. One of Gemini's primary goals-orbital rendezvous-had been achieved.

  13. Project Gemini • Gemini VIII, March 16, 1966 • Crew: Neil A. Armstrong and David R. Scott • A second major objective of the Gemini program was completed less than six hours after launch, when Neil Armstrong brought Gemini VIII within 0.9144 meters of the pre­launched Agena target, then slowly docked-the first orbital docking ever.   • Problem was a stuck thruster on the spacecraft.

  14. Project Gemini • Gemini IX, June 3­6, 1966 • Crew: Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan • The highlight of the mission was to have been a docking with a shortened Agena called the Augmented Target Docking Adapter. The docking was canceled after rendezvous with the target

  15. Project Gemini • Gemini X, July 18-21, 1966 • Crew: John W. Young and Michael Collins • Gemini established that radiation at high attitude was not a problem. After docking with their Agena booster in low orbit, Young and Collins used it to meet with the dead, drifting Agena left over from the aborted Gemini VIII flight-thus executing the program's first double rendezvous.

  16. Project Gemini • Gemini XI, September 12-15, 1966 • Crew: Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr. • With Apollo looming on the horizon, Gemini project managers wanted to accomplish a rendezvous immediately after reaching orbit, just as it would have to be done around the Moon. Only 85 minutes after launch, Conrad and Gordon matched orbits with their Agena target stage and docked several times.

  17. Project Gemini • Gemini XII, November 11-15, 1966 • Crew: James A. Lovell, Jr. and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. • By the time of the last Gemini flight, the program still had not demonstrated that an astronaut could work easily and efficiently outside the spacecraft. In preparation for Gemini XII, new, improved restraints were added to the outside of the capsule, and a new technique-underwater training-was introduced, which would become a staple of all future space-walk simulation.

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