Gemini Missions
Gemini 3 was launched from Complex 19 at 9:24 a.m. EST into a 87 x 121 nautical mile orbit. At the end of the first orbit Grissom made the first orbital maneuver, which lowered the orbit to a near-circular orbit.
Gemini 3 was launched from Complex 19 at 9:24 a.m. EST into a 87 x 121 nautical mile orbit. At the end of the first orbit Grissom made the first orbital maneuver, which lowered the orbit to a near-circular orbit.
The Gemini program was designed as a bridge between the Mercury and Apollo programs, primarily to test equipment and mission procedures in Earth orbit and to train astronauts and ground crews for future Apollo missions. Wally Schirra had commented that during the Mercury flights, the astronauts:
"...didn't really contribute very much to the flight of the vehicle. We were lab specimens."
With the new Gemini Program, that was going to change.
Gemini III was the first manned mission of the new Gemini Program. It was manned by Virgil Grissom and John Young. Grissom had been deeply involved with the designers of the newer and bigger Gemini capsule. Although the Gemini Program dropped the practice of naming the capsules and opted instead to use Roman numeral numbering, except for Gemini III which Gus had named "Molly Brown" in difference to his Mercury capsule "Liberty 7" which sank shortly after splashdown.
NASA PHOTO: Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom flew the first manned Gemini mission. Here they are acting as backup crew for Gemini VI.
The complex tasks required to go to the moon meant that it would involve teamwork to fly and dock spacecraft. When it was ready to fly for the first time, the Gemini capsule was twice as heavy, it carried an onboard computer for the first time, and most important, it had thrusters for active piloting.
Despite the increased size and weight, the cramped space inside the capsule only grew by 50 percent, making the multiple day flights a challenge for astronauts. Frank Borman described it like this:
"Spending two weeks eating, sleeping, working and going to the bathroom stuffed into the front seat of a sports car wearing an overcoat." FRANK BORMAN
Another major change in the Gemini capsul was the loss of the escape tower thrusters designed to jetison the entire capsule up and away from the rocket should some catastrophic event occur. This was replaced with a pair of ejection seats that would send the astronauts out and away from the capsule and rocket. When John Young saw some testing of this new safety feature, the cabin hatch that was designed to be explosively removed from the capsule, failed, leaving him to comment about what would have happened if the seat had been occupied: "That's one hell of a headache, but a short one!"
NASA PHOTO: Gemini III capsule being moved to the Intrepid's elevator.
Gemini III completed 3 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Atlantic. Most of the objectives were achieved except for the controlled reentry which was only partially realized. During reentry, the angle of attack was lower than planned causing the capsule to splash down some 60 miles from the target. This miss of the target gave the crew a much longer time in the pitching Atlantic. Although the Gemini capsule was designed to remain afloat, Gus remembered his previous Mercury flight sinking to the bottom of the ocean when the hatch was prematurely opened and so he refused to open the capsule.
Secondary objectives were only partially achieved. The personal hygiene system was only partially tested, Operating mechanism failed on S-2 - Synergistic Effect of Zero Gravity on Sea Urchin Eggs Experiment and the photographic coverage objective was only partially successful because of an improper lens setting on the 16mm camera.
