Mercury Gemini Apollo Skylab ASTP Shuttle ISS

    Project Gemini was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966, putting the United States in the lead during the Cold War Space Race against the Soviet Union.

    Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. It performed missions long enough for a trip to the Moon and back, perfected working outside the spacecraft with extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and pioneered the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve space rendezvous and docking. With these new techniques proven by Gemini, Apollo could pursue its prime mission without doing these fundamental exploratory operations.

    		     

    [ Launches | Astronauts ]

    Mission LV serial No Command Pilot Pilot Mission dates Launch time Duration
    Unmanned
    Gemini 1 GLV-1 12556 8–12 April 1964 16:00 UTC 03d 23h
    First test flight of Gemini; spacecraft was intentionally destroyed during re-entry
    1: The mission duration was 4h 50m, sufficient to achieve all of the mission aims in three orbits; the spacecraft remained in orbit for 3d 23h.
    Gemini 2 GLV-2 12557 19 January 1965 14:04 UTC 00d 00h 18m 16s
    Suborbital flight to test heat shield
    Manned
    Gemini III GLV-3 12558 Grissom Young 23 March 1965 14:24 UTC 00d 04h 52m 31s
    First manned Gemini flight, three orbits.
    Gemini IV GLV-4 12559 McDivitt White 3–7 June 1965 15:16 UTC 04d 01h 56m 12s
    Included first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American; White's "space walk" was a 22-minute EVA exercise.
    Gemini V GLV-5 12560 Cooper Conrad 21–29 August 1965 14:00 UTC 07d 22h 55m 14s
    First week-long flight; first use of fuel cells for electrical power; evaluated guidance and navigation system for future rendezvous missions. Completed 120 orbits.
    Gemini VII GLV-7 12562 Borman Lovell 4–18 December 1965 19:30 UTC 13d 18h 35m 01s
    When the original Gemini VI mission was scrubbed because the launch of its Agena docking target failed, Gemini VII was used as the rendezvous target instead. Primary objective was to determine whether humans could live in space for 14 days.
    Gemini VI-A GLV-6 12561 Schirra Stafford 15–16 December 1965 13:37 UTC 01d 01h 51m 24s
    First space rendezvous accomplished with Gemini VII, station-keeping for over five hours at distances from 1 to 300 feet (0.30 to 91 m).
    Gemini VIII GLV-8 12563 Armstrong Scott 16–17 March 1966 16:41 UTC 00d 10h 41m 26s
    Accomplished first docking with another space vehicle, an unmanned Agena Target Vehicle. While docked, a Gemini spacecraft thruster malfunction caused near-fatal tumbling of the craft, which, after undocking, Armstrong was able to overcome; the crew effected the first emergency landing of a manned U.S. space mission.
    Gemini IX-A GLV-9 12564 Stafford Cernan 3–6 June 1966 13:39 UTC 03d 00h 20m 50s
    Rescheduled from May to rendezvous and dock with the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) after the original Agena Target Vehicle launch failed. The ATDA shroud did not completely separate, making docking impossible. Three different types of rendezvous, two hours of EVA, and 44 orbits were completed.
    Gemini X GLV-10 12565 Young Collins 18–21 July 1966 22:20 UTC 02d 22h 46m 39s
    First use of the Agena Target Vehicle's propulsion systems. The spacecraft also rendezvoused with the Agena Target Vehicle from Gemini VIII. Collins had 49 minutes of EVA standing in the hatch and 39 minutes of EVA to retrieve experiments from the Agena. 43 orbits completed.
    Gemini XI GLV-11 12566 Conrad Gordon 12–15 September 1966 14:42 UTC 02d 23h 17m 09s
    Gemini record altitude with apogee of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km)[20] reached using the Agena Target Vehicle propulsion system after first orbit rendezvous and docking. Gordon made a 33-minute EVA and two-hour standup EVA. 44 orbits.
    Gemini XII GLV-12 12567 Lovell Aldrin 11–15 November 1966 20:46 UTC 03d 22h 34m 31s
    Final Gemini flight. Rendezvoused and docked manually with its target Agena and kept station with it during EVA. Aldrin set an EVA record of 5 hours and 30 minutes for one space walk and two stand-up exercises, and demonstrated solutions to previous EVA problems. 59 orbits completed

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