PROJECT GEMINI MISSION REVIEW 1965

[Music] for project Gemini the year 1965 was one of achievement six missions were flown one unmanned and five carrying a two-man astronaut crew each of these missions significantly furthered progress of the nation's manned spaceflight program through attainment of primary mission objectives but 1965 was not notable for mission success alone it was a year characterized by a number of unique and historic space accomplishments for the United States this was the first Gemini mission of the year an unmanned suborbital flight extending more than 2,100 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range a flight designed to qualify all systems of the Titan launch vehicle and the Gemini spacecraft for the manned missions to follow the Germany two spacecraft carried an onboard camera which pointed through the window providing an astronaut's view of the mission re-entry phase the film from this camera clearly showed the sequence of events which included firing of the retro rockets and deployment of the parachute landing system for the Germany two mission two parachutes only were used the drogue parachute being omitted onboard camera footage shows deployment of the six-foot pilot parachute subsequently pulling away the rendezvous and recovery section to allow deployment of the main parachute system examination of the heat shield following recovery of the spacecraft revealed that it had successfully withstood a reentry trajectory planned to create a maximum heating effect the flight crew for the first manned mission were command pilot Virgil Grissom and pilot John Young theirs was to be a three orbit mission to evaluate the spacecraft and its systems during manned flight a second objective was to change the course of the spacecraft orbit during flight after a perfect liftoff stage separation occurred launch vehicle placed the spacecraft near the program trajectory with an Apogee of 139 statute miles and a perigee of 100 statues miles after a flight lasting four and a half hours the spacecraft splashed down well within the planned landing area all major mission objectives had been achieved in addition command pilot Grissom had successfully executed two orbital altitude changes as well as an orbital plane change except for re-entry maneuvers this was the first time man was able to change the orbital path of a spacecraft during flight the way form and rendezvous and docking missions had been prepared the flight of Gemini 3 demonstrated another significant aspect of manned spaceflight during the mission the crew had performed several scientific and technical experiments notable among these was photography of the earth from the orbiting space craft space photos such as these taken during Gemini 3 and subsequent Gemini missions reveal the earth in great detail these photos have provided the world's geologists and meteorologists with a wealth of knowledge about the planet's terrain features and weather systems knowledge would significantly enhances studies in a wide variety of related fields such as oceanography forestry agronomy and geophysics whereas the Gemini 3 mission had lasted four and a half hours Germany four was planned for four days astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White were to demonstrate the feasibility of this extended duration space mission that men could live and work during this time performing the challenging tasks of flying a spacecraft as well as conducting many scientific and technical spaceflight experiments there was to be yet another demonstration one that would establish a significant milestone for the United States manned spaceflight program at some time during the Gemini 4 mission pilot Edward white would open the hatch of the spacecraft and 100 miles above the earth an orbiting velocity of 17,500 miles per hour would leave the spacecraft for this manoeuvre known as extra vehicular activity EBA for short special clothing and equipment had been designed a life support pack mounted on the parachute harness contained an oxygen bottle with enough oxygen to enable the astronaut to return safely to the spacecraft in the event of umbilical line failure to protect the astronauts body against extreme temperatures and space particles a suit made from layers of aluminized Mylar nylon and felt also special temperature resistant over gloves a small propulsive unit a so-called space gun was also to be carried during the e VA the space gun designed by NASA engineers of the flight crew Support Division expressly for the mission provides a limited amount of thrust from a supply of compressed oxygen preventing the astronaut to maneuver in space gt4 was launched from Cape Kennedy at 10:16 Eastern Standard Time the launch vehicle accelerated cleanly through all stages of powered flight now for the first time in the manned spaceflight program direct control of the mission was assumed by the man the spacecraft Center Houston Texas during the third revolution over the Pacific Ocean astronaut white elected to begin his walk in space he leaves Gemini 4 under the impulse of his handheld maneuvering unit or space gun as an on-board camera records the beginning of the first American spacewalk command pilot McDivitt was briefed about the whole thing he's out flight he said Colonel white continues to maneuver in front of the spacecraft relying chiefly on a space gun for control he reported absolutely no disorientation a fact which he would emphasize again during his space walk during evie a command pilot McDivitt flew the spacecraft steady as a rock at the same time he constantly monitored the entire evie exercise he took still in motion pictures and maintained essential communications with Mission Control this is the pilots thermal glove which floats up from the spacecraft and enters its own orbit astronaut white was impressed by the positive control furnished by the space gun he uses it now to your left and out of the screen the second onboard sequence picks up astronaut white in front of the nose he had previously maneuvered in back of a spacecraft over the adapter section and with the use of the tether line had taken three or four steps on Gemini 4 the oxygen for the space gun has been exhausted and he is now relying on the dynamics of the tether for maneuvering fearful of harming the stub antennae on the spacecraft nose he pushed off with his foot and went into a marked role however Colonel white reported that role did not disturb him or greatly affect his ability to maneuver although control was more difficult with only the tether to assist him astronaut Wendt reported that he was still able to get where he wanted to go it just took a little more time the spacecraft is now coming up over the coastline of California astronaut white is out of camera range this sequence illustrates the photographic clarity and detail that is possible from space a fact which holds much promise for a new geologic mapping of the Earth's surface as the flight continued over the United States astronaut white began preparations for return to his spacecraft after more than 20 minutes in space Jiri entered Germany for and the mission continued after 63 further orbits around the earth Germany four was successfully recovered the mission had established two world space flight records for the first time two men had spent four days in space and for the first time the United States demonstrated extravehicular activity with a propulsive device that permits men to maneuver free from a spacecraft only eleven weeks elapsed between the recovery of Germany four and the successful launch of Gemini 5 whereas the last spacecraft had journeyed around the earth for four days Gemini 5 with astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad aboard was planned for an eight-day mission the time it would take to reach the moon and return not only was the endurance of the man to be proved during these eight days but also the performance of more than a hundred spacecraft systems these included two to be tested for the first time during spaceflight the fuel cell power supply and the rendezvous radar in addition the mission plan called for a total of 16 in-flight experiments to be conducted by the crew of Gemini 5 a planned raid our evaluation pod exercise was cancelled due to a temporary fall-off of spacecraft power the radar pod exercise was replaced with a special rendezvous maneuver with a phantom target vehicle this maneuver was successfully completed when Germany 5 splashed down in the Atlantic it had completed 120 revolutions for a total flying time of 190 hours and 55 minutes in all eight world space records and two United States records were established by the mission the excellent physical condition of both astronauts on recovery confirmed the medical feasibility of long-duration space missions the events which occurred in the last month of 1965 provided a fitting culmination to the Germany programs year of success after cancellation of rendezvous mission Gemini 6 due to the target vehicles failure to orbit Gemini 7 was scheduled for launch on December 4th astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell were to spend an unprecedented 14 days in orbit in nine days time from this same launch complex pad 19 at Cape Kennedy it was planned to launch Gemini 6 and effect a rendezvous in space with Gemini 7 achievement of these mission objectives would profoundly affect the course of the nation's manned spaceflight program Germany 7 lifted off following a perfect no-holds countdown almost before the smoke from the launch vehicles engines had cleared launch complex 19 was being examined to determine how soon the follow-on mission could commence meanwhile astronauts Borman and Lovell had achieved a near-perfect orbit and were station keeping in space with a launch vehicle second stage booster these motion pictures taken with onboard cameras from the spacecraft recorded this feat of space formation flying the purpose of this experiment was to take infrared measurements of the second stage using infrared detection equipment the experiment lasted 15 minutes after which the crew settled down for the long mission ahead a schedule of working eating and sleeping had to be maintained and a total of 20 onboard experiments had been planned one of the cruise tasks was to track and film the launch of a Navy Polaris a3 missile the Polaris was launched from the submarine USS Benjamin Franklin submerged in the Atlantic about 30 miles east of Cape Kennedy the Gemini spacecraft almost immediately over the area was able to obtain these motion pictures as the a three missile was launched at least three minutes of infrared tracking data was obtained before the missile disappeared into the clouds command pilot Borman tracked the Polaris manually using the spacecraft's attitude control while pilot Lovell operated the motion picture camera the view from space was so clear that the astronauts were able to report booster staging sooner than monitoring personnel aboard the submarine during the early days of the Gemini 7 mission space flight achievement was being matched on the ground as Gemini 6 was readied for its role in the doubleheader mission the turnaround operation at pad 19 proceeded so smoothly that the planned 9 day interval between launches was reduced to eight at dawn on that eighth day the countdown for Gemini 6 was underway astronauts Wally schirra and Thomas Stafford began their assigned functions as the crew which would shortly keep company with the two American astronauts who had already exceeded the world's manned space flight endurance record in the blockhouse the countdown continued smoothly as all systems were checked out launch occurred on schedule and what seemed now a Gemini tradition the launch vehicle lifted cleanly from the pad accelerating the spacecraft towards orbit insertion and a rendezvous with Gemini 7 then began a series of nine basic rendezvous maneuvers bigeminy six on the fourth revolution command pilot Shara began his final braking maneuver to match the velocity of Gemini 7 he was nineteen hundred miles west of Hawaii Germany six began braking at point four eight nautical miles from Gemini 7 pilot Stafford calmly called off the decreasing distance between the spacecraft we are looking at the nose of Gemini 6 as it moves within the last feet of rendezvous the world first learned that rendezvous had taken place with these words from Colonel Stafford we're 120 feet and steady congratulations from the ground were briefed as Gemini 6 immediately began a lengthy station-keeping exercise with Gemini 7 this onboard film was shot at six frames per second and is projected at four times that rate this speeded up projection emphasizes the remarkably steady control maintained by both spacecraft in orbit from daylight we move into the dark side of the earth we are looking at the adapter section of seven it is covered by a cloth painted gold for thermal purposes for the first time a camera has photographed attitude thrusters firing in space water had accumulated in the boiler of Gemini 7 a roll procedure was recommended by Houston flight to dump the excess water overboard the maneuver was successful the water immediately freezes into multicolored crystals in front of the window of Gemini 6 Gemini 6 perform both an in-plane and an out of plane fly around of an over during station keeping captain Shah reported that he had no difficulty in maneuvering around Gemini 7 Gemini 7 also maintain station on Jem six during the five and 1/2 hours of station-keeping all crew members took turns flying their spacecraft in this period Germany six has now moved in over the nose of Germany seven only one foot separates them we can see captain Lovell through the pilots window command pilot Shara reported that he could see the beards of both crew members this is about as close to docking as one can get without actually performing a doc later that day at 6:00 p.m. Cape time Germany six separated from its sister craft captain Shara performed a planned nine foot per seconds retrograde burn he separated to about 20 miles the first rendezvous in space had ended with a successful recovery of both crews it was ascertained that other significant records had been established the United States now had the greatest total of man hours in space 1,350 2 hours and 42 minutes we also had the greatest number of astronauts making space flights 1610 of which represented the most sent into space by any nation within a single year the achievements of Germany in 1965 however have a far greater significance than the attainment of space flight records alone while the missions flown during the year essentially realized their prime objectives each had also contributed in a much broader sense to a total advancement of manned spaceflight the techniques of launch orbit and recovery of manned spacecraft had been brought to a high degree of perfection other techniques such as extra vehicular activity orbital plane changes and rendezvous had also been demonstrated the function and reliability of complex spacecraft systems had been proven including brand-new state-of-the-art hardware such as fuel cells and onboard rendezvous radar man had also been proven to be a vital indispensable component of the space mission his physical endurance his ability to withstand the rigors of spaceflight had been repeatedly demonstrated not merely to physically endure but to function efficiently as a crew member to perform useful work in the conduct of in-flight scientific and technical experiments in short to live and work in the space medium these were the achievements these were the contributions made by the men and missions of project Gemini in 1965 [Music]