Gemini The Twins (1964)

[Applause] [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Lin Bondurant welcome to our fifth program in our series 25 years of progress during this fifth episode we cover a few events from 1964 and we'll see quite a bit of film from 1965 and 1966 in those years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration continues to work on the goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade and returning him safely to Earth in pursuit of that goal NASA continues to prepare for the two-man gym in the earth orbital space flights general purpose of the flights is to ready men and technology for later flights to the moon one major objective is to be able to rendezvous and dock to flying spacecraft flight crew people prepare for Gemini rendezvous and docking missions they use a docking simulator to develop docking techniques scientists use the data for Apollo as well as jiminey NASA researchers use other devices to meet unusual needs here's an air bearing beta trainer beta stands for balanced extra-vehicular training aircraft scientists intend to use it for studying the problems of movement and tool handling and free space it eliminates many of the frictional forces experienced on earth there are two nearly frictionless air bearing surfaces researchers demonstrate a lunar landing research vehicle at nasa's flight research center edwards air force base california gross takeoff weight including the pilot is about 3,700 pounds this is the first of two such craft scientists design it to fly and simulate nooner landing takeoff in control and astronauts use it for training [Music] workers progress towards completion an early 1965 checkout or the first space vehicle transporter the four tracks are installed each track leak weighs a ton the transporter is to weigh five and a half million pounds and in 1964 development of a probe is underway which is too soft land of the moon to survey the surface before men are to fly there more lunar reconnaissance is needed before a man landing is to be tried much information is to be gathered by unmanned surveyor spacecraft surveyor is the responsibility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists test surveyor systems engineers plan for flight testing before the end of 1965 the surveyor is to land on the moon and analyze its surface and environment and radio findings to earth now let's go to 1965 in 1965 NASA gains much experience with manned earth orbital spaceflight during the Gemini missions the Jimny space vehicles man-rated during the nineteen minute jiminee two unmanned test flight which takes place in January and Jimny 3 is the first jiminee manned flight Grissom and young fly three orbits [Music] during jiminy the first American spacewalk occurs in 1965 [Music] [Music] by December jiminee 7 provides the clincher with two weeks in orbit the Medical News is encouraging results of the flight show no long-term harmful effects on astronauts Borman and Lovell due to weightlessness that means missions to the moon are medically feasible and NASA does a wide variety of other aerospace work in 1965 space highlights 1965 an eventful year in space these pictures telecast live from the moon were recorded by the Ranger nine spacecraft just before it slammed into the lunar surface this was the final mission in the Rangers series a series which gave us a close-up look at the moon and clues to its character another picture taking highlight Mariner fours voyage to Mars a 325 million mile journey that returned the first pictures and data ever gathered close to the mysterious red planet there were two Tyros weather satellites placed in orbit terrace nine and Tyros 10 between them they spotted five hurricanes and fourteen typhoons their television eyes transmitted thousands of photographs of the entire earth to aid weather forecasters earlybird was the world's first commercial communication satellite was launched by NASA for the communication satellite corporation early-bird provides telephone telegraph high-speed data and television between Europe and the United States one of the 14 scientific satellites launched was an orbiting solar observatory also to All Souls instruments provided information on the seething hot gases surrounding the Sun and how its tremendous energy controls events on earth and other planets more than 400 sounding rockets were launched during 1965 sounding Rockets vertically probed the region between the limits of balloon flights and the lowest orbital satellites NASA conducted many of these launches in cooperation with 16 countries in aeronautical research the x-15 rocket airplane soared to the fringes of space more than 30 times new instrumentation was installed in the xb-70 2,000 miles an hour airplane these studies are helping to design this country's supersonic transport also tested were vertical takeoff and landing planes which may someday revolutionize air travel Saturn one the first generation in a series of rockets which will ultimately place men on the moon completed three successful launchings here being static fired all the engines which will actually lift the Saturn moon rock off the launch pad the Apollo spacecraft also underwent rigorous testing paving the way for the flights to the moon astronauts virgil grissom and john young proved gemini ready for longer and more complicated missions with their three orbits of the earth next our first long-duration mission the four days of Gemini 4 with James McDivitt and Edward white piloting the highlight of course was White's 22 minute walk in space Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad demonstrated that an eight day lunar mission is feasible they spent eight days in orbit in the Gemini 5 spacecraft after an Agena rocket failure Gemini 6 was reprogrammed into a combined mission with Gemini 7 for the final manned space flights of the year astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell left first in Gemini 7 theirs was a long-duration mission 14 days in space one meaningful two future manned flights plenty of time to complete a host of medical and scientific experiments eleven days after their departure Walter schirra and Tom Stafford boarded the Gemini 6 spacecraft and headed for a rendezvous with Gemini 7 a rendezvous in which the four space pilots circled the world in formation Gemini Ranger Mariner Tyros orbiting solar observatory these and many more made 1965 a year of significant progress in this country's peaceful exploration of space [Music] let's move to 1966 to put 1966 into historical focus that is a year that Marcel de runner lives 5 days with a partial artificial heart in his chest but dies of a lung rupture in Houston Texas jiminee again is a highlight in 1966 for NASA NASA officials show the ability to meet unexpected difficulty successfully the Gemini 6 spacecraft is poised on the launch pad ready to blast off and rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle the Agena does not orbit so workers removed Jimny 6 from the pad and they launched Jimny 7 on December 4th jiminee 6 is ready again about a week later jiminee 6 launch rockets burned for seconds and shut down astronaut Walter schirra is ready to eject but does not need to do so three days later on December 15th NASA successfully launches chiminey sex the two orbiting jiminy craft with men aboard make a good rendezvous in space much other NASA activity takes place in 1966 1966 a year in which aeronautics and space in the news achievements which are expanding man's knowledge here is a report on some of those accomplishments [Music] this animation shows how surveyor one looked as it came in for a soft landing on the moon the date June 2nd as evidenced by these photos a spacecraft can land on the lunar surface and probably a man can walk on it some of the terrain is very similar to our soil a man would leave footprints as he would in sand many rocks dot the moon scape future flights will photograph other possible manned landing areas and carry instruments to measure surface hardness information needed before men land they're charting actual landing sites for the astronauts is the job of the lunar orbiter - of the 850-pound satellites have orbited the moon photographing and mapping wide areas sometimes sweeping as low as 25 miles above the surface here are some of the pictures pictures helping to determine the height and slope of lunar mountains and the depth of craters these remarkable views show the crater Copernicus pictures - of the backside of the moon and a view of Earth from 240,000 miles in space the surveyor lunar orbiter combination has returned a valuable scientific data about the moon helping pave the way for the first lunar explorers [Music] American weather satellites are a good example of technological potential put to work not only for our own well-being but that of other nations the high-flying picture takers have given advanced warnings on everything from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico to great sand storms in North Africa and Arabia three satellites making up the Tyros operational system were launched for the weather bureau in 1966 and are returning daily meteorological information around the world Nimbus an advanced NASA research weather satellite was also launched Nimbus took both day and infrared nighttime pictures over the United States and of the entire Earth predecessor to long-range weather forecasting systems one of more than a dozen scientific satellites launched by NASA in 1966 was orbiting geophysical Observatory nicknamed ogo it studies space phenomena such as radiation belts solar plasma magnetic fields their effects on each other and the earth another satellite is greatly refining our mapmaking ability appearing as a bright new star it is called patios patios carries no instruments by reflecting sunlight from its 100-foot shiny surface it provides an orbiting point source of light serving as a beacon in the sky the satellite is simultaneously photographed by widely separated ground stations throughout the world with the help of paggio sand using the principles of geometry the Earth's surface can now be mapped with greatly increased accuracy to pioneer spacecraft were launched into orbit around the Sun pioneers six and seven between now and 1970 an entire series of these Sun watchers will be put into orbit around the Sun investigating reporting future pioneers will venture even closer to the Sun observing the solar atmosphere close up and warning of solar storms sending back useful data about the Sun earth relationship more than 300 sounding rockets were launched from various locations around the world these small rockets play an important role as they scientifically probed the atmosphere and ionosphere testing out equipment and experiments to be flown on future satellites and helping us better understand weather and communications sounding Rockets so reliable and flexible they can be launched during sub-zero weather or from on board a ship at sea to take measurements during a solar eclipse total eclipses happen only once every two years November 12 1966 was the date of one of these occurrences the place South America certain celestial phenomena can be recorded only when a total eclipse blots out the sun's direct light 300 scientists from the US and other countries complete with equipment gathered in South America to witness and record the event some flew on high-speed jets which intercepted the moon's shadow and then raced along with it out over the Atlantic others use sounding rockets to record changes in winds and temperatures and make x-ray measurements as the moon shadows swept from coast to coast across South America scientists had an opportunity to acquire a history of a complete solar event in a cooperative international program [Music] this is the hypersonic research vehicle x-15 a rocket and spacecraft in one in the atmosphere it flies like an airplane at the edge of space it is controlled by Gemini type reaction Jets on November 18th the x-15 rocketed to a world record speed for winged aircraft four thousand one hundred fifty nine miles per hour the sleek black plane has also reached altitudes of more than 67 miles but the x-15 is more than all this it is a flying research laboratory making contributions that range from bio astronautics to future leadership in high-speed high-altitude supersonic and hypersonic flight there may be a need someday to shuttle men and equipment between orbiting space stations and earth it is for this reason that NASA has been studying lifting bodies this prototype called the m2 f2 is one of the lifting bodies currently undergoing tests wingless lifting bodies are being developed to operate in space then returned through the Earth's atmosphere landing like a conventional airplane research continued in developing systems that might power future space missions yet undefined present-day Rockets are for the most part liquid fuel now under study our solid propellant rockets of equal or greater thrust the Florida Everglades was the site of the second test firing of a powerful solid fuel rocket motor the eight story tall motor spewed out a pillar of white-hot flame from its exhaust nozzle the so called large solid burned eight hundred forty tons of rubber like fuel at a rate of six tons per second [Music] also in the research stage nuclear propulsion engines a series of tests are being jointly conducted by NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission the rocket would use a nuclear reactor to produce thrust small less fuel consuming nuclear engines being tested now may someday enable scientists to plan long missions to distant points in space and carry greater payloads project Gemini this country's second man venture into space falls between the experimental mercury program of the early 60s and operational Apollo flights we've gained much experience from Germany nearly 2,000 man-hours in space experience which has direct application to the Apollo program there were five Gemini flights during the year rounding out a series of 1210 manned to unmanned Germany operated in a building block fashion experience learned from one mission was applied to the next this included both the successes and failures [Music] gemonese major requirements rendezvous and docking long-duration missions learning to work in space and the ability to bring a spacecraft down to earth close to a desired landing point by the end of 1965 we had satisfied the long-duration mission requirement during March 1966 Gemini 8 astronauts Armstrong in Scott carried out the first rendezvous and docking with an orbiting Aegina but all did not go well a malfunction caused the spacecraft to roll erratically the crew was forced to undock and make an early landing in the Pacific proving the ability to evolve alternate plans to learn from the unexpected Gemini 9 had a double problem the Agena could not be put into orbit and as you can see here the shroud surrounding a substitute target did not come completely off even so Stafford and Cernan rendezvous three separate times with what they called the angry alligator and Cernan spent more than one orbit outside the spacecraft [Music] then Germany ten when astronauts Jung and Collins met with and latched on to an orbiting a Gina the docked craft then powered up to rendezvous with the Agena vehicle left in space from the Gemini 8 mission in addition Mike Collins became the third American to practice extra vehicular activity although trouble with his oxygen system shortened the spacewalk Gemini 11 was also a successful flight a new altitude record of 860 miles was established with the docked Gemini Aegina combination as in the two previous missions a VA was cut short this time because of fatigue but Germany 12 showed how man could work more productively outside his spaceship astronaut edwin aldrin using special hand holds tethers and foot restraints to counteract the effects of weightlessness spent more than five hours outside the craft completing all his evie a tasks a 100 foot line was attached between a Gina and Gemini conserving valuable fuel and even creating a small amount of artificial gravity during all the Gemini missions many important scientific and engineering experiments were carried out and hundreds of photographs like these are giving us a better understanding of our earth of special significance to has been the ability gain to control a spacecraft during the all-important reentry an ability which has allowed GEMA need to land within full view of the recovery forces Germany has prepared as well for all future manned missions into space 1966 was a year of development and testing for Apollo Saturn escape systems fuel cells spacecraft all the major components are being worked up to a state of readiness three uprated Saturn one Rockets were sent aloft from Cape Kennedy to check out the performance of the launch vehicle and unmanned spacecraft all went well including recovery in the South Atlantic this a prelude to manned Apollo missions at the Kennedy Space Center a full-scale engineering model of Apollo and the Saturn 5 rocket were put together inside the newly built Vehicle Assembly Building from there a giant crawler transported the rocket and craft to the launch pad three miles away 1966 a year of exploration and investigation whether building toward faster more efficient planes of the future developing space hardware and industrial plants throughout the United States or performing basic research at University and government laboratories 1966 was a year of progress in both aeronautics and this country's continuing peaceful exploration of space those are the 1966 NASA highlights please join us next time for episode 6 of our story of 25 years of NASA progress during the next show we will cover the years 1967 and 1968 i'm lynn Bondurant [Music] Oh [Music] [Music]