POST LANDING RECOVERY QUALIFICATION

after a thorough research program it was decided that returning geminii spacecraft will be landed by a parachute system in a sea environment although this is similar to the mercury landing technique several important spacecraft design differences necessitated a complete post landing and recovery requalification program for gemini the floatation angles of the two spacecraft are markedly different the gemini spacecraft floats with its longitudinal axis in a horizontal attitude the longitudinal axis of the mercury spacecraft was in a vertical attitude during floatation the seating position of the flight crews also differs greatly during post landing floatation this difference in seating characteristics is caused by the floatation angles as well as seat design the location of spacecraft systems is another area of difference mercury spacecraft systems were located within the pressurized cabin which contained the astronaut in the Gemini spacecraft all systems with those needed directly by the flight crew are packaged in modules between the pressurized cabin and the exterior skin of the spacecraft at mcdonald aircraft in st. louis the spacecraft to be used for post landing and recovery qualification tests was constructed designated static article number five this is a production spacecraft representative of spacecraft 3 the first manned Gemini spacecraft three of the spacecraft systems necessary during the post landing phase are operable these are the electrical system the communication system and the environmental control system which provides breathing air and suit ventilation to the flight crew all recovery aids are also operable static article 5 has the same weight center of gravity and configuration as spacecraft 3 static article 5 was shipped from McDonald aircraft to the manned spacecraft Center in Houston Texas for open sea tests the first C test was held in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 40 miles southwest of Galveston Texas the purpose of this testing program was threefold one to demonstrate the suitability and stability of the Gemini spacecraft for a long duration in a sea environment to to qualify essential post landing systems and demonstrate the seaworthiness of a spacecraft structure 3 to obtain information on human physiological reactions to a long-duration sea environment in the Gemini spacecraft the NASA motor vessel retriever was used to ten static article 5 the test subjects were Gordon Harvey NASA engineer and James Lovell astronaut after the test subjects entered the spacecraft a final pretest systems check was conducted following this check the hatches were closed and the spacecraft and crew placed in the Gulf static article 5 was connected to the retriever with a 400-foot line supported by floats this line contained instrumentation and monitoring cables which enable doctors and technicians to monitor spacecraft systems and the crew throughout the tests during these sea tests certain equipment failures were noted environmental control system compressor number two failed after 22 minutes a 325 apt short circuit existed in the electrical system the high-frequency whip antenna buckled within one minute after its extension the output of the number one UHF voice transceiver was abnormally low because of these failures the test was terminated after two hours static article 5 was hoisted to its cradle on the deck of the retriever and the test subjects removed after this sea test static article 5 was returned to MSC at ellington Field for further examination the post-test inspection revealed several areas in which redesigning or correction was needed the lithium hydroxide charge was found to be nearly five pounds overweight from absorbed water the short-circuit in the electrical system was traced to imperfect potting a corroded umbilical plug and leaking connectors the battery straps showed an excessive amount of corrosion corrosion was also noted on the access door seal to the environmental control system these problem areas were documented and the necessary corrections to the spacecraft equipment were performed by McDonnell aircraft meanwhile NASA and McDonald crews work to prepare static article 5 for its next C test this included a complete cleanup and the replacement of wiring and necessary items of equipment a training program was conducted for the test subjects the test subjects received practice in egress from the Gemini spacecraft a portion of this training was held in a tank at ellington Field the test subjects also underwent egress training in the Gulf of Mexico in both the Gulf egress and tank egress training sessions a border plate mock-up of the gemenese spacecraft was used training was given to technical personnel the technicians were checked out in proper use of static article 5 equipment and monitoring instrumentation consoles training and helicopter transfer techniques was given to the test subjects using a Coast Guard helicopter and the retriever this method of transporting the test subjects to the test area was used in order that the subjects not be affected by the motions of the retriever before the test prior to the final c test a team of manned spacecraft Center and McDonald aircraft engineers reviewed the configuration of static article 5 this inspection was to assure that its configuration was accurately representative of spacecraft 3 the test vehicle was then weighed and balanced to simulate the weight and center of gravity of spacecraft 3 static article 5 was then placed in a freshwater flotation tank the operation of spacecraft systems and the flotation attitude were confirmed following this successful freshwater test static article 5 was placed in a vacuum chamber at the manned spacecraft centers nearby Clear Lake facility equipment compartments and insulating material were dried in this chamber after completion of the drying process the test vehicle was returned to ellington Field for complete systems checkouts static article five was next moved outdoors for check out of its communication system an Air Force c-119 was used in a flyover check of the spacecraft see to air communications after successful checkouts of all spacecraft systems were completed the test article was transferred to the retriever for the final C test the shipboard spacecraft systems check proceeded normally a short circuit caused by the ship battery two spacecraft battery power transfer switch damaged certain monitoring equipment the spacecraft systems were unaffected the test subjects arrived by helicopter and were transferred to the deck of the retriever this helicopter also brought the parts necessary to repair the monitoring equipment the crew entered the spacecraft and ran through the final spacecraft systems check out the subjects for this test were astronaut James Lovell in the left-hand seat an astronaut Alan beam in the right seat check out of the biomedical equipment and the newly installed instrumentation proceeded smoothly and the spacecraft was prepared for placement in the Gulf all spacecraft systems operated normally after the spacecraft was placed in the water at the time of placing static article 5 into the sea the wind was approximately 10 knots with two and one half to three foot seas by the time the end of the test was reached the wind would reach 20 knots with seas of four and a half to five feet the wind and roughness of the sea increased steadily throughout the test the average pitch and roll angles also increased however the maximum angles of pitch and roll remained constant as did the periods of the motion the electrical system functioned properly throughout the tests all equipment load currents were very close to specified values although the test subjects experienced certain difficulties with the environmental control system this was not due to see test conditions all spacecraft communication systems functioned properly flyovers were conducted by the Air Force to check see to air transmission the test crew noted configuration and quality problems with certain equipment but this was traceable to causes other than the sea environment the test subjects experienced some motion sickness which was expected and discomfort from the seating position and temperature inside the spacecraft after three hours they removed their geminii pressure suits and gain some increase in comfort shortly before the conclusion of the test a final transmission was made from the spacecraft to the Goddard tracking network following this transmission spacecraft systems were secured and the spacecraft retrieved all systems were operating properly the spacecraft was secured on the deck of the retriever the total time during which static article 5 and its crew had been in the sea was 16 hours and 35 minutes static article 5 was returned to the ellington Field location for its post see test inspection on the following day a team of NASA and McDonald engineers participated in this evaluation the problems found in the first C test had been corrected electrical equipment showed no signs of deterioration the high-frequency whip antenna was inspected later at mcdonald and showed no signs of defect or leakage the inspection of ellington Field revealed if the spacecraft was little affected by the sea tests all spacecraft systems were basically in their normal condition the data compiled from the post landing and recovery qualification tests are being used in further studies additional information is being obtained on human physiological reactions to the long-duration see condition and further testing with open hatches has proven successful in increasing astronaut comfort in the post landing recovery qualification program the seaworthiness of the gemini spacecraft structure and it's essential post landing systems was proven the suitability and stability of the spacecraft to this type environment was demonstrated and all test objectives were accomplished static article 5 is the first production spacecraft of any type to complete a qualification program at the manned spacecraft Center Clear Lake facility the completion of this program marked a forward step in manned spaceflight an example of the cooperation and coordination of many organizations McDonnell Aircraft Corporation the United States Air Force the Coast Guard and all divisions of the land spacecraft Center