View allAll Photos Tagged ProjectGemini,
“Astronaut Edward H. White II, pilot of the Gemini IV four-day Earth-orbital mission, floats in the zero gravity of space outside the Gemini IV spacecraft. Behind him is the brilliant blue Earth and its white cloud cover. White wears a specially designed spacesuit; and the visor of the helmet is gold plated to protect him against the unfiltered rays of the sun. He wears an emergency oxygen pack, also. He is secured to the spacecraft by a 25-feet umbilical line and a 23-feet tether line, both wrapped in gold tape to form one cord. In his left hand is a Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit (HHSMU) with which he controls his movements in space. Astronaut James A. McDivitt, command pilot of the mission, remained inside the spacecraft. EDITOR'S NOTE: Astronaut White died in the Apollo/Saturn 204 fire at Cape Kennedy on Jan. 27, 1967.”
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini4/html/s...
President John F. Kennedy views a mock-up of the Gemini space capsule, during a tour of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation plant in St. Louis, Missouri. On platform, in foreground (L-R): McDonnell engineer, Elbert Wiegand (seated in cockpit of the two-man spacecraft); Vice President of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and General Manager of Projects Mercury and Gemini, Walter F. Burke (back to camera); President Kennedy; Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, James S. McDonnell; Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. James E. Webb. Also pictured: Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the Department of Defense, Dr. Harold Brown; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell T. Shepard, Jr.; Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner; Representative Albert Thomas (Texas); Special Assistant to the President, Kenneth P. O’Donnell; Secretary to the Assistant Press Secretary, Barbara Gamarekian; White House Secret Service agents, Jack Ready, Emory Roberts, Roy Kellerman, Win Lawson, and Frank Yeager. The President visited the McDonnell plant as part of a two-day inspection tour of NASA field installations. Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport, St. Louis, Missouri.
Available to view at:
www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-ST-387-10...
I highly recommend exploring the rest of the impressive collection of photos at the above site.
Martin Co. illustration of a Gemini spacecraft in orbit, closing on an Agena docking target vehicle, for rendezvous and docking.
If the stamped date of "OCT 24 1965" is somewhat timely, then this would be the launch of Gemini 5.
Additionally/pathetically: My preliminary, only & final analysis of the pattern of the billowing exhaust cloud supports such as well.
Still further: “What are Pan Am branded personnel & equipment doing relatively near the launch of a manned U. S. rocket in 1965???”, you ask. Well, apparently Pan American World Airways, Inc. provided installation support services to NASA, which were actually quite wide ranging:
www.panam.org/golden-age/443-pan-am-the-race-to-space-2
Credit: Pan Am Historical Foundation website
Who knew/cared/cares, right?!
Pete Conrad & family...1967...precious.
"Exercise, relaxation and togetherness – all in one – is demonstrated by the Pete Conrad family in the bottom of their backyard swimming pool. From left are Peter, 11; Pete, 36; holding Christopher, 5; Tommy, 9; Andy, 7; and Mrs. Jane Conrad. Other family sports include sailing, bowling, horseback riding, hiking and general horseplay around the home.”
“An Original”...RIP:
“Gemini 10 astronaut John W. Young, command pilot for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s three day Earth orbital mission undergoes a weight and balance check. Plans for the Gemini 10 mission include rendezvous, docking, and extravehicular activity.”
Nice photo of one of the most beloved & respected astronauts of all time. Taken at the KSC Pyrotechnic Installation Building.
See also:
uk.pinterest.com/pin/393079873721465926/
Credit: Kandice Halfacre/UK Pinterest
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordon_Cooper_Jr._is_be...
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
www.alamy.com/nasa-astronaut-neil-armstrong-undergoes-wei...
Excellent context:
picryl.com/media/astronaut-walter-schirra-during-weight-a...
Credit: PICRYL website
PictionID:44716366 - Catalog:14_012991 - Title:Atlas Details: Drawing of Atlas & Gemini Target Vehicle; GT-6 Date: 09/27/1965 - Filename:14_012991.TIF - - - Image from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Pilot James Lovell Jr., (foreground) and Command Pilot Frank Borman, conducting testing, checks, rehearsal, etc., in the possible/probable? KSC Gemini Mission Simulator, in preparation for their upcoming Gemini VII mission the following month.
A great view/perspective of their new & funky G5C space suits, especially those helmets, that really give this a 50’s sci-fi movie scene look.
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a successor to the canceled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane. MOL evolved into a single-use laboratory, for which crews would be launched on 30-day missions, and return to Earth using a Gemini B spacecraft derived from NASA's Gemini spacecraft.
The MOL program was announced to the public on 10 December 1963 as an inhabited platform to demonstrate the utility of putting people in space for military missions; its reconnaissance satellite mission was a secret black project. Seventeen astronauts were selected for the program. The prime contractor for the spacecraft was McDonnell Aircraft; the laboratory was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The Gemini B was externally similar to NASA's Gemini spacecraft, although it underwent several modifications, including the addition of a circular hatch through the heat shield, which allowed passage between the spacecraft and the laboratory. Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC 6) was developed to permit launches into polar orbit.
As the 1960s progressed, the MOL competed with the Vietnam War for funds, and resultant budget cuts repeatedly caused postponement of the first operational flight. At the same time, automated systems rapidly improved, narrowing the benefits of a crewed space platform over an automated one. A single uncrewed test flight of the Gemini B spacecraft was conducted on 3 November 1966, but the MOL was canceled in June 1969 without any crewed missions being flown.
Seven of the astronauts selected for the MOL program transferred to NASA in August 1969 as NASA Astronaut Group 7, all of whom eventually flew in space on the Space Shuttle between 1981 and 1985. The Titan IIIM rocket developed for the MOL never flew, but its UA1207 solid rocket boosters were used on the Titan IV, and the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster was based on materials, processes and designs developed for them. NASA spacesuits were derived from the MOL ones, MOL's waste management system flew in space on Skylab, and NASA Earth Science used other MOL equipment. SLC 6 was refurbished, but plans to have military Space Shuttle launches from there were abandoned in the wake of the January 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
NASA's Gemini capsule was extensively redesigned for the MOL Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. The resulting Gemini B, although externally similar, was essentially a completely new spacecraft. Gemini B was not designed to fly separately, but rather was launched with the crew aboard attached to the manned orbiting laboratory. After reaching orbit, the crew would shut down the capsules systems and put them into hibernation. They would crawl through an 0.635 m diameter hatch in the heat shield, leading to a tunnel that accessed the MOL itself. After thirty days of operations, the crew would return to the Gemini B, separate from the MOL, and reenter the atmosphere. Gemini B had only 14 hours of free flight time for autonomous operations after separation from the MOL.
Several changes were made from the original NASA Gemini, including:
-Internal systems were containerized and designed for long term orbital storage
-The cockpit layout was completely redesigned and new instruments were developed
-The cant of the ejection seats were changed in order to make room for the hatch in the heat shield between the crew's shoulders
-Cabin atmosphere was changed to Helium-Oxygen in place of pure oxygen. At launch, the crew breathed pure oxygen in their suits while the cabin was filled with pure helium. During ascent, oxygen from the suits slowly brought the cabin atmosphere up to the helium-oxygen content of the station itself.
-In order to handle higher energy reentries from polar orbit, the heat shield was increased in diameter, so that it actually stuck out a bit from the base of the reentry vehicle.
- The OAMS maneuvering thrusters of the NASA Gemini were deleted; spacecraft orientation in orbit was handled by the forward RCS thrusters.
-The number of solid propellant retrofire motors was increased from four to six. These served double-duty: for deorbit of the Gemini B and as abort rockets for separation of the Gemini from the enormous Titan 3M in case of launch vehicle failure.
The prototype Gemini-B, which was launched on a suborbital trajectory, was the refurbished Gemini-2 capsule, making it the first reused spacecraft. It was launched with the MOL-Heatshield Qualification Test on a Titan-3C launch vehicle.
“Outer Space Pacemaker
Tomorrow’s rocket engine is as big as today’s spacecraft: The 1.5-million-pound-thrust M-1 rocket engine being developed for NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland is one-third its final length and already is nearly as large as the two-man Gemini spacecraft. The full M-1 engine, being made by Aerojet-General Corp.’s Liquid Rocket Operations, will be 17 feet in diameter and 26 feet long. The Gemini spacecraft has a maximum diameter of 7 ½ feet and is 19 feet long.”
Also:
“The two-man Gemini spacecraft is displayed next to the upper part of an M-1 engine. The Gemini would have fit within the engine bell of a completed engine.”
At/from:
www.thespacereview.com/article/4506/1
To include the image:
www.thespacereview.com/archive/4506g.jpg
Both above credit: “The Space Review” website
Additional information:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=58031.0
Credit: NASASpaceFlight.com forum/website
www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/aerojet-general-m-1-rock...
Credit: SECRET PROJECTS website
Yet again, the amazing resolution of these vintage photographs, further enabled by my considerate & conscientious 1200-dpi scans, reveals & resolves a sign/placard in the background, toward the upper left, bearing "TITAN I ENGINE ASSEMBLY AREA".
Therefore, the photograph likely having been taken ca. 1964 at the latest (based on the stamped date on the verso), at Aerojet-General's Rancho Cordova (Sacramento), CA facility/plant.
Further value-added reading:
amp.sacbee.com/news/business/article147280324.html
Credit: “The Sacramento Bee” online website
www.comstocksmag.com/article/back-story-rocket-company-ro...
Credit: “Comstock’s Magazine” website
www.l3harris.com/aerojet-rocketdyne-history
Credit: L3 Harris website
PictionID:46838713 - Catalog:14_023301 - Title:GD Astronautics Facilites Details: Launch Complex 19 Sign 1986 - Filename:14_023301.TIF - Images from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Beautifully composed promotional artwork by resident Aerojet-General Corporation artist George Mathis, featuring the company's first stage engines for the Gemini/Titan II launch vehicle - in full-throttle glory - with the profiles of two unknown/generic Gemini Astronauts. Although…the one on the left is rather “Cernanesque”.
8.5" x 11".
Check it out:
ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu/masc/masctour/mathis/index.html
Credit: Washington State University website
“The Gemini-11 spacecraft, carrying astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., command pilot, and Richard F. Gordon Jr., pilot, was successfully launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 19 at 9:42 a.m. (EST), Sept. 12, 1966. The liftoff photograph is framed by the sides of the lowered erector.”
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini11/html/...
Presumably from NASA or McDonnell, this illustration shows the recovery mode which was originally planned for Project Gemini spacecraft. Using an inflatable "Rogallo Wing", Gemini was to have made a somewhat controlled landing at one of the government-owned dry lake beds. Weight growth and development delays led NASA to go with the traditional parachute landing, at sea.
Sequence compatibility firing of the two stages of Gemini Launch Vehicle 1 (GLV-1) at Launch Complex 19 (LC-19):
At last, on 21 January 1964, the third attempt of the sequenced compatibility firing of both stages of GLV-1 overcame some minor problems and delays to demonstrate the whole sequence of fueling, countdown, ignition/shutoff commands, guidance control, and telemetry. First-stage engines fired for 30 seconds and cut off. The second-stage ignited and fired for 30 seconds, halted by radio signal from the ground computer as in actual flight. Sequenced compatibility firing proved that the engines delivered the required thrust and gimbaled properly. This static firing, the only one performed on a Gemini launch vehicle, met all prelaunch standards.
Who knew?!
Another view available at:
history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p2b.htm
Specifically:
history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/images/fig66.jpg
From NASA SP-4002/“Project Gemini - A Chronology, Part 2 (A):
“December 31
The two stages of Gemini launch vehicle 1, standing side by side on complex 19, completed the Combined Systems Test (CST) in preparation for Sequence Compatibility Firing (SCF). CST had been scheduled for December 13 but was delayed by late completion of the complex support systems for operational compatibility with the launch vehicle. The Wet Mock Simulated Flight for SCF was successfully completed January 7, 1964. The SCF scheduled for January 10 was discontinued at T-20 and rescheduled for January 14, when cold weather forced cancellation of the test. The SCF, a static firing of the stage I and stage II engines, was successfully conducted on January 21. Stage II erection in tandem followed on January 31.”
Additional interesting and pertinent discussion:
SDASM.CATALOG: 08_001946
FILE NAME: 08_01946
SDASM.TITLE: Neil A. Armstong
SDASM.ADDITIONAL INFO: Gemini
SDASM.MEDIA: Glossy Photo
SDASM.DIGITIZED: Yes
SDASM.SOCIAL MEDIA: www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/sets/72157627981313215/
SDASM.TAGS: Neil A. Armstong
From my collection of vintage NASA credentials. This badge is an example of the type of credentials that were issued to NASA employees following the initial creation of the space agency in the late 1950’s. This early example is of the type that was issued to all individuals who were employed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, AL during the Mercury and early Gemini space programs (1960-1965).
Lendle was a rocket propulsion engineer who originally worked for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) in the 1950’s. When he transitioned from the ABMA, Lendle became one of the first engineers to be employed by NASA. During his career at NASA, Lendle worked on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
President John F. Kennedy views a mock-up of the Gemini space capsule, during a tour of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation plant in St. Louis, Missouri. On platform, in foreground (L-R): McDonnell engineer, Elbert Wiegand (seated in cockpit of the two-man spacecraft); Vice President of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and General Manager of Projects Mercury and Gemini, Walter F. Burke (gesturing with hand); President Kennedy. Also pictured: Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, James S. McDonnell; Director of Defense Research and Engineering for the Department of Defense, Dr. Harold Brown; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell T. Shepard, Jr.; White House Secret Service agents, Win Lawson and Frank Yeager. President Kennedy visited the McDonnell plant as part of a two-day inspection tour of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) field installations.
7.5" x 9.375", trimmed by a/an....(fill-in-the-blank) at some point.
www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-ST-C42-6-...
What I'm assuming to be McDonnell Aircraft Corporation engineers & technicians...are seen swarming in/around a Gemini capsule mock-up/model. Circa 1962?
Photo has been slightly trimmed.
“Gemini 8 Astronauts Neil Armstrong, left, and David Scott leave the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, Wednesday morning enroute to nearby Complex 19, launch site of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s scheduled three-day orbital mission. Mission will include rendezvous and docking with an orbiting Agena Target Vehicle and a nearly three-hour “walk in space” by Astronaut Scott.”
So, if the information & date on the verso are correct, this was launch day. The shadows are fairly long, so it’s plausible, especially with a 11:41 a.m. EST liftoff.
“Color” confirmation:
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gemini8.1966.ws.jpg
Credit: Wikimedia
Due to the harrowing events of the mission, articles abound. I like this one:
www.americaspace.com/2021/03/17/serious-problems-here-rem...
Credit: America Space website
If depicted at the correct speed, the following provides alarming visual context for the ‘gravity’ of the situation:
youtu.be/797jevfbsEE?si=DPc-MdRcfXUA1IBB
Credit: Smithsonian Channel/YouTube
Also:
youtu.be/Qqw-_-tfthg?si=I9IrF26_mOAXS9Bx
Credit: Retro Space HD/YouTube
Note the expressions on the faces of the two young ladies between Armstrong & Scott. Walt Cunningham, a member of the support crew & CAPCOM for the mission, can be seen off Armstrong’s right shoulder.
These two look so damned cool…casually…radiating “Right Stuff”, which indeed was demonstrated during the flight. I'm sure contributing to Armstrong’s selection as Apollo 11 Commander.
And finally, Neil is leaving the building that would eventually bear his name, the "Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building". I personally think it should’ve been something more substantial…like maybe the Armstrong VAB (AVAB). I suppose renaming DFRC will have to suffice. 😉
www.collectspace.com/news/news-072114c-neil-armstrong-o&a....
Credit: collectSPACE website
1/8 scale model of the Gemini Spacecraft, 1962. Note the labeling of some of the panels, referencing "landing gear". The original intent for Gemini was to land on solid ground, using a Rogallo wing, instead of at sea via parachute, with the crew seated upright, controlling the forward motion of the vehicle.
A wonderful seamless double exposure of the Gemini 12 and GT-12 Atlas Agena launches. Ninety eight minutes after the Atlas Agena was launched from Complex 14, the Gemini Titan - 12 followed from Complex 19, with Lovell and Aldrin on board, 11 November 1966.
The top white border has been trimmed off, possibly by a well-intentioned but misguided Airman.
Interesting to compare with a similar photo, from nearly the same vantage point for Gemini 11:
www.drewexmachina.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/66-H-120...
Credit: Drew Ex Machina/Andrew LePage
“Hatches open, Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, left, and Thomas P. Stafford, right, emerge from their Gemini 9A spacecraft aboard the USS Wasp following splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean 345 miles east of Cape Kennedy at 9 a.m., EST., June 6, 1966. The astronauts completed three days in orbit during which time their spacecraft performed a number of rendezvous maneuvers with an Augmented Target Docking Adapter. The astronauts flew to Cape Kennedy later in the afternoon. This marked the seventh manned Gemini mission conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.”
Also:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gemini_Crew_Welcomed_by_W...
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“LIKE THE GEMINI 11 mission last September, Gemini 12 also will experiment with tethered vehicle flight. Aldrin will attach line between spacecraft and Agena target during space walk while vehicles are docked. After separation the two vehicles will remain linked by line for further study of tethered flight as a means of holding formation in space and conserving maneuvering fuel.”
Formerly from the personal collection of Richard Bossler, a gentleman and a scholar…who was THERE.
No such thing as too much Russ Arasmith. Am I right or what?!?
Below is the Bab al-Mandab Strait, bridging the Red Sea & Gulf of Aden. The area of heavier cloud cover is over Djibouti. Striking.
Posted primarily for my edification, from an eBay listing for whatever this document specifically is. I can't believe I didn't have the wherewithal to note & record what it is...ugh.
I suppose I was preoccupied that I’d stumbled upon this rare work "twice", sort of.
1/8 scale model of the Gemini Spacecraft, 1962, with skidpad landing gear down & locked. The original intent for Gemini was to land on solid ground, using a Rogallo wing, instead of at sea via parachute, with the crew seated upright, controlling the forward motion of the vehicle.
Astronaut Gus Grissom appears to be conducting an evaluation of a circular egress/ingress ‘orifice’ incorporated into the hatch of a model/mock-up/"training" Gemini capsule. I assume whatever is going on here was part of investigations into extravehicular activity equipment & procedures. Maybe this was considered for stand-up extravehicular activity, eliminating the requirement to open the hatch.
If so, other than the introduction of a potentially catastrophic single-point-of-failure, there is some merit to this. Especially if it was detachable/removable, therefore not hinged, which I wouldn't expect it to have been. Just my pointless SWAG/1.5¢.
Based on the similarities of the scaffolding and similar graphics pattern on the badges of the bespectacled gentleman on the left and that of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, James S. McDonnell in the below linked photo, I’m quite sure this was taken at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation plant in St. Louis, Missouri. Ca. 1963…maybe. Love the plywood!
So, IDK, I’m winging it, as I’ve found absolutely NOTHING regarding Gemini hatches with a round opening.
Regardless, it’s cool, and the photograph is in fantastic condition! 8.5" x 11".
Possible, sorta, kinda confirmation of my above blathering:
"February 5, 1963
Crew Systems Division representatives presented results of investigations into equipment and procedures for extravehicular operations. McDonnell was to begin a review of current extravehicular capabilities and to proceed with a study of requirements. Areas of study were to include (1) extent of crew maneuverability with hatch closed and cabin pressurized as currently provided, (2) requirements to allow the crew to stand in open hatches but not actually leave the cabin, and (3) requirements to allow a crew member to leave the cabin and inspect the spacecraft's exterior. McDonnell was directed to provide for extravehicular operations for spacecraft Nos. 2 and up.
NASA-MSC Consolidated Activity Report for the Office of the Director, Manned Space Flight, Jan. 27-Feb 23, 1963, p. 62 (hereafter cited as Consolidated Activity Report); Abstract of Meeting on Mechanical Systems, Feb. 8, 1963."
From/at:
Title: Gemini/Rogallo Recovery Test Rig
Catalog #: 08_01693
Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Post-flight documentation photo of the interior of the Gemini 5 capsule.
Note the hand-drawn covered wagon and "8 DAYS OR BUST" labeled tape over the "PARA" switch guard. Note also the ringed checklist, opened to the "POST-MAIN CHECKLIST" page/section, stowed in the right pedestal pouch, to the upper right.
Excellent & informative reading as usual:
www.collectspace.com/news/news-082415a-gemini5-50th-8days...
Credit: collectSPACE website
www.drewexmachina.com/2015/08/21/eight-days-or-bust-the-m...
Credit: Drew Ex Machina website/Andrew LePage
And last, but most certainly not least, from the Astronautix website:
“...The admiral welcomed them aboard ship. Asked what they had been thinking about when it looked as though the fuel cell heater problem might cause the mission to end early, Conrad pointed out a picture he had drawn between the spacecraft seats of a covered wagon halfway over a cliff.”
At:
"The Augmented Target Docking Adapter is photographed against the background of the blackness of space from the Gemini-9 spacecraft during one of their three rendezvous in space. The ATDA and Gemini-9 spacecraft are 71.5 feet apart. Failure of the docking adapter protective cover to fully separate on the ATDA prevented the docking of the two spacecraft. The ATDA was described by the Gemini-9 crew as an "Angry Alligator.""
8.5” x 11”.
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini9/html/s...
“Major Edward R. Givens, Project Officer for the Air Force’s Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU), demonstrates the AMU’s propulsion system. Astronaut Eugene Cernan will test the AMU during his extravehicular activity on the up-coming Gemini 9 mission for the Air Force. The AMU contains all systems necessary for a man to operated in space independently of a mother spacecraft and is a step toward developing a capability for space repair, maintenance, assembly, docking, transfer and rescue. Air Force System’s Command’s Space Systems Division manages development of the AMU for the Department of Defense.”
Post-flight documentation photo of the interior of the Gemini 5 capsule.
Interesting/odd: The switch/knob labeling of the overhead switch/circuit breaker panel (toward the top of the photo) is "inverted".
At first I thought that it was possibly easier for the Astronaut to turn his head around and look up & back, than to tilt the head straight back, possibly arching the back to assist. Being an ejection seat, I figured there probably wasn’t much play in it, especially for head movement. However, I also can’t imagine the space suit comfortably allowing for that much head rotation & pivoting, further compounded by helmet field-of-vision limitations. IDK.
“ACME” = Attitude Control and Maneuver Electronics
Excellent:
www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Gemini5-panels.png
Credit: ibiblio website
"Gemini, the two-man spacecraft goes on display at McDonnell Aircraft, (prime contractor) in St. Louis, Mo. Two primary objectives of Project Gemini are to provide early manned rendezvous techniques, and to provide us with long-duration manned flight experience to study the effects of weightlessness. We will be able to assess pilot functions, develop propulsion, guidance and control concepts. Gemini will have the capability of staging for periods of a week or longer."
Check out the transparent hatches. Possibly to assess interior space, mobility, access(es), etc., from outside - with them closed?
"No worries, we'll get this."
Gemini IX-A Mission Commander Tom Stafford reassures rookie co-pilot Gene Cernan that despite the Agena Target Vehicle's failure to reach orbit, a solution/work-around will be found.
That's my take at least.
The irrepressible Günter Wendt is at far right.
The future beckons - The launch of Gemini 11 with the Saturn 500-F Facilities Vehicle on Pad 39 in the distance. The Gemini 11 spacecraft was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 19 at 7:42 a.m., September 12, 1966.
Also at:
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/3-66-hc...
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/mercgem/mg-66-HC-...
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35842.0
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gemini_11_launch_with_SA-...
“1965 WAS THE YEAR OF GEMINI!”
“Artist sketch of the Gemini-8 Astronauts, Neil A. Armstrong, command pilot, and David R. Scott, pilot, watching an engineer at work on the Titan II, Pad 19. The Gemini-8 crew for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s three day mission will attempt to achieve the first rendezvous and docking of two spacecraft in earth orbit.
Art by George Mathis,
Aerojet-General Corp.”
A rare acknowledgement of an artist (other than Robert McCall) in a (contractor originated) NASA-issued photo. I wonder how Aerojet-General swung that? Granted, Mr. Mathis was very talented, but so were many “anonymous” others. I'll take it.
Another work that appears to be in chalk or charcoal pencil.
Note the Aerojet-General logo - a capital letter “G” (minus text) - on each thrust chamber.
An amazing photo taken by Gemini 11 Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad of Richard F. Gordon Jr., Gemini 11 Pilot, after reopening his hatch to jettison unneeded equipment, following his first EVA. The void up and to the right of Gordon’s helmet is just that - the void and vacuum of space itself - I’ll refrain from my usual belabored expressions and exclamations.
ETHEREAL...yeah, that’s it.
“Even without his favorite horse, “Rancho,” Pete Conrad still has that cowboy look – even on a geological field trip, part of NASA’s training curriculum.”
From another press slug:
“A WESTERN STAR HE ISN’T—Looking like an actor in a western movie, Astronaut Charles Conrad is shown during a geological training trip to Grand Canyon, Ariz., during the spring of 1964. Next Thursday, suited up quite a bit differently, Conrad will get aboard Gemini 5 spacecraft with fellow astronaut Gordon Cooper for a proposed 8-day orbital flight.”
As you'd expect from Pete, he's got it going on: longhorn motif belt buckle, lensatic compass/case next to it, geologist's hammer on the left hip & entrenching tool (maybe) on the right.
Move over Dr. H. H. Schmitt, there’s another ‘sheriff’ in town. 😉 Anyone get it? As in “geo” sheriff…for geologist. Schmitt being a Geologist by profession & the first one on the moon.
Waviness along the bottom periphery of the photo paper due to the copious amount of military-grade adhesive used to affix the press slug on the verso.
Per the following informative & amusing document, I'm assuming the photo to have been taken either 5/6 or 12/13 March 1964:
pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1190/of2005-1190_figs_001-019.pdf
Credit: ALSJ website
“Astronaut Edward H. White II, pilot for the Gemini-Titan 4 (GT-4) spaceflight, floats in the zero-gravity of space during the third revolution of the GT-4 spacecraft. White wears a specially designed spacesuit. His face is shaded by a gold-plated visor to protect him from unfiltered rays of the sun. In his right hand he carries a Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit (HHSMU) that gives him control over his movements in space. White also wears an emergency oxygen chest pack; and he carries a camera mounted on the HHSMU for taking pictures of the sky, Earth and the GT-4 spacecraft. He is secured to the spacecraft by a 25-feet umbilical line and a 23-feet tether line. Both lines are wrapped together in gold tape to form one cord. Astronaut James A. McDivitt, command pilot, remained inside the spacecraft during the extravehicular activity (EVA). EDITOR'S NOTE: Astronaut Edward H. White II died in the Apollo/Saturn 204 fire at Cape Kennedy on Jan. 27, 1967.”
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini4/html/s...
The first space selfie - Buzz Aldrin, Gemini XII, 12 November 1966
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini12/hires...
A 1960s glass dish featuring the Gemini 12 Spacecraft in all of its glory.
From Wikipedia: “Gemini 12 (officially Gemini XII) was a 1966 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Project Gemini. It was the 10th and final crewed Gemini flight, the 18th crewed American spaceflight, and the 26th spaceflight of all time, including X-15 flights over 100 kilometers (54 nmi). Commanded by Gemini VII veteran James A. Lovell, the flight featured three periods of extravehicular activity (EVA) by rookie Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, lasting a total of 5 hours and 30 minutes. ”
“LIKE A BIG SILVER TOP -- A technician at Goodyear Aerospace Corporation’s Arizona Division test inflates a Ballute safety device which will be used in the two-man NASA Gemini mission should the flight be aborted during launch or re-entry. When fully inflated through four vents, the device -- fabricated of aluminum-coated nylon -- reaches 48 inches in diameter. The Ballute is designed to stabilize the astronauts until they can reach an altitude where conventional parachutes are deployed. It was designed by Goodyear Aerospace under contract to McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, prime contractor for the Gemini spacecraft.”
SDASM.CATALOG: 08_001936
FILE NAME: 08_01936
SDASM.TITLE: Mercury 7 and Navy Seals
SDASM.ADDITIONAL INFO: Recovery Practice
SDASM.MEDIA: Glossy Photo
SDASM.DIGITIZED: Yes
SDASM.SOCIAL MEDIA: www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/sets/72157627981313215/
SDASM.TAGS: Gemini Astronauts and Navy Seals
Hanger S Cape Canaveral.
This nondescript hanger at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is where American manned space flight began. It was here that the earliest Mercury and Gemini capsules were tested and checked out prior to flight and it was here the Mercury 7 Astronauts trained.
The southern half of Florida, the Bahama Islands (Andros-Grand Bahamas-Bimini), and Cuba, looking south from the Gemini 12 spacecraft during its fifteenth revolution of Earth.
Pristine digital version at:
spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/gemini/gemini12/html/...
I know it's petty & anal; however, the title at the above: "GEMINI12 Shuttle Mission Imagery" - irks me - especially since it's on an "official" NASA site. "Shuttle Mission"...really??? Attention to detail...aaargh!
Also at: