Matt Murphy
11/1/13
Period 7
The Gemini Program

The Gemini Program
For millennia, mankind has stared up at the stars and imagined successful navigation throughout the final frontier. The inception of NASA’s Gemini Program in 1962 during the Space Race with the Soviet Union fulfilled the yearning of many star-gazers throughout history. It is truly a testament to human progress that with the Gemini Program we broke once inconceivable barriers and left this world we call our home if only for a short period of time. Even though the Gemini Program has been concluded for many decades, its impact on navigation through outer space, NASA, and human history will forever be remembered.
The Gemini Program’s main intension was to innovate and improve the safety of space travel. The improvements and accomplishments reached because of Project Gemini were necessary to link the success of the Apollo Space Program started by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and the Mercury Project. More objectives set out by the Gemini Program included: increasing the length of time an unmanned shuttle can stay in flight, not only successfully but safely maneuvering a spacecraft to reach the rendezvous sight, and conducting experiments while in orbit to guarantee the safety of future launches and flights. When Canadian aerodynamicist, Jim Chamberlin designed the Gemini Program he was certainly ambitious in planning out his intensions regarding the future of space travel.
The Gemini Program didn’t reach success or accomplish all of its goals in one mission; its achievements were realized through hard work and a multitudinous of missions into the cosmos. The groundbreaking first Gemini mission took place on April 8, 1964. This mission dealt with the launching of an unmanned spacecraft into Earth’s orbit. The orbital returned four days later on April 12, 1964 and the first Gemini mission was a success. This phenomenal triumph would not be the last for NASA or Project Gemini; only a mere eight months later in January of 1965 Gemini 2, another unmanned suborbital, would take flight and return for splashdown 18 minutes later. The purpose of Gemini 2 was to test the heat shield on the spacecraft and within only eight months after its inception, Gemini was a roaring success. More remarkable Gemini missions included Gemini 3, the first manned flight on March 25, 1965 in which astronauts, Virgil Grissom and John W. Young made three planetary orbits in four hours and fifty-two minutes. Gemini 5 captained by astronauts L. Gordon Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad, was launched on August 21, 1965 and returned for splashdown on August 29, 1965. Gemini 5 was a significant mission because it was the first week long flight, completing 120 planetary orbits. It was the first flight powered by fuel cells for electricity and it used a navigation system for an accurate rendezvous. Gemini 12, piloted by James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, was the final Project Gemini flight on November 11, 1966. During this four day finale, “Buzz” Aldrin completed a five and a half hour spacewalk, two stand up exercises, and found solutions to technical glitches. Through all of the active years of Project Gemini and all of its missions there were certainly some historical feats.
Despite all the Gemini Project’s major successes there were major incidents that endangered the entire program’s reputation. Most notably, the mission of Gemini 8 almost saw the end of Commander Neil A. Armstrong and Pilot David R. Scott. While in orbit, there was a thruster malfunction on board the spacecraft. The outcome of such a technical hiccup would normally be fatal, but due to Commanding Pilot Neil Armstrong’s cunning the problem was averted and there were no fatalities. With the loss of one of the main thrusters the shuttle began to tumble violently. Commanding Pilot Armstrong wisely activated the reaction control system (RCS). Unfortunately, mission rules dictated that the activation of the RCS for any reason would be grounds for flight termination. The physical damage of that type of malfunction is not as harmful as the mental damage seeing as this was the first emergency landing of a manned spacecraft in US history. There was no conclusive reasoning behind this thruster malfunction, it can only be inferred that an electrical shortage due to static electricity caused the impairment of the thruster. This incident almost took a turn for the worst but a positive result was that NASA installed isolated circuits in every spacecraft. The mishap also paved the way for additional training set forth to avoid major failures like the one on Gemini 8.

Then Gemini Space Program acted as a segway from the early Apollo missions into the more advanced Mercury missions. Aside from minor obstacles the Gemini Program was a proven success for advancement in space travel. The greatest accomplishments of the Gemini Program included: An eight-day flight that gathered data necessary to carry out the Apollo 12 moon landing, 14 day endurance flight which was necessary to confirm that humans can survive at least two weeks in outer space, the first American spacewalk. Other various accomplishments include the capability to successfully and safely return to the rendezvous point, whereas previous missions may have been completely off target, an effective docking system, and the ability to demonstrate Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) without tiring. In my opinion, the Gemini Project is the most vital US space program in the history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In a time where our research of the cosmos left us with more questions than answers, the Gemini Project led to the attaining of valuable information and served as an essential prelude to many of our more modern US space programs. The Gemini Project also provided real life training for the astronauts that would move on to command the Apollo Project. The final expenses for the Gemini Space Program came out to 1.3 billion dollars for spacecrafts, launch vehicles, and support. This was 1.3 billion dollars well spent because without the Gemini Space Program our knowledge, experience, and future capabilities would be completely limited without Project Gemini.

Gemini Missions
Gemini 1
Launched 8 April 1964
Uncrewed Orbital
Reentered 12 April 1964
Gemini 2
Launched 19 January 1965
Uncrewed Suborbital
Splashdown 19 January 1965
Gemini 3
Launched 23 March 1965
Gus Grissom and John Young
Splashdown 23 March 1965
Gemini 4
Launched 3 June 1965
James McDivitt and Ed White
Splashdown 7 June 1965
Gemini 5
Launched 21 August 1965
Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad
Splashdown 29 August 1965
Gemini 6A
Launched 15 December 1965
Walter Schirra and Tom Stafford
Splashdown 16 December 1965

Gemini 7
Launched 4 December 1965
Frank Borman and Jim Lovell
Splashdown 18 December 1965

Gemini 8
Launched 16 March 1966
Neil Armstrong and David Scott
Splashdown 16 March 1966
Gemini 9A
Launched 3 June 1966
Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan
Splashdown 6 June 1966
Gemini 10
Launched 18 July 1966
John Young and Michael Collins
Splashdown 21 July 1966
Gemini 11
Launched 12 September 1966
Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon
Splashdown 15 September 1966
Gemini 12
Launched 11 November 1966
Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin
Splashdown 15 November 1966