On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite launched into Earth orbit. History records that event as one which generated near panic among the American people and their government. In truth, the US government was not taken by surprise by the Soviet launch. President Eisenhower had been warned three weeks before the event that a Soviet launch was imminent, and U2 overflights and other forms of surveillance had kept the American scientific and political communities well-informed of Soviet progress and intentions.
Still, it was a shock to the less informed public, one which drew attention to the necessity of American technology surpassing that of its global geopolitical rival. Politicians and propagandists skillfully presented the United States as trailing the Soviets in the newly christened “Space Race”. Americans had a long history of supporting the underdog, as well as opposing communism, and government efforts, coupled with the scientific and engineering communities, found growing support for an American effort to achieve dominance in the area of space. In October 1958, just over one year after Sputnik I, President Eisenhower approved Project Mercury, America’s first program to launch manned vehicles into space.
Mercury was widely celebrated by the American public. The first seven men to be selected as American astronauts, a word which loosely translates from Greek as “star traveler”, were immediate national heroes, even before any of them were launched into space. The first American, Alan Shephard, flew in space in a brief suborbital mission on May 5, 1961, just over three weeks following the Soviets’ launch of the first man into space. Thus, the perception in the public mind was that the Americans still trailed the Soviets, and support of the American program, under the auspices of a civilian agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was a patriotic duty.
Three weeks after Alan Shephard’s first flight, President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress. Riding a wave of patriotic fervor following Shephard’s success, Kennedy demanded a greater financial commitment to space exploration, stating, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth”. At the time, the outline for how such a goal could be accomplished was in place at NASA. The basic scheme included a three-man mission, using a separate vehicle to land two men on the moon and later return them to the command ship in lunar orbit. Following their rendezvous, the lunar lander would be discarded, the three men returned to Earth in the command ship, which would reenter the atmosphere and return to Earth via parachute to a water landing, to be recovered by the Navy.
The lunar mission envisioned meant that astronauts would have to maneuver their space vehicles independently as needed, rendezvous with another vehicle, dock with that vehicle, undock, and dock again. They would need to live and work in space for several days, and they would need to work outside of their protective ships, carrying their own breathing air, air conditioning equipment, and all that was needed to survive and operate in space.
The Mercury program accomplished none of those things. Mercury demonstrated man could operate in space, but the astronaut had little control over his spacecraft. Mercury astronauts remained in their space suits and helmets throughout their missions, none of which lasted longer than a few hours. It was clear to NASA engineers and the astronauts themselves that another program was necessary, one that bridged Mercury to the lunar program, named Project Apollo. The bridge program would be one in which astronauts learned the procedures required of Apollo. They would rendezvous with other spacecraft, both manned and unmanned. They would learn to dock and undock their spacecraft, “walk” in space untethered to their vehicle, and remain in space for the extended periods necessary for a trip to the moon. They would learn to fly in space, applying the lessons learned to future missions to the moon. The new program, designated Project Gemini, would consist of several missions, of two men in a space capsule designed to accommodate them side by side. It was officially initiated by NASA on December 7, 1961.
Gemini referred to the stars of that constellation containing Castor and Pollux, the heavenly twins. NASA’s official pronunciation of the program had the name ending in a long I, to rhyme with eye. Popular pronunciation, including among the media and even some of the astronauts themselves, frequently used the long “e” sound, to rhyme with knee. However one pronounces it, the name refers to one of the most popular and successful programs ever conducted by NASA, which greatly contributed to the space craze that gripped the world in the mid-1960s.
The Canadian Contribution to Gemini was Substantial
Project Gemini began with Mercury already conducting manned flights, and with Apollo planning gearing up significantly. NASA engineers, planners, scientists, technicians, and support personnel were stretched between the two programs, as well as in support of various non-manned satellite and other space exploration activities of the time. Yet NASA, although a wholly American program in terms of funding and management, was not wholly American in terms of personnel involved. Several German scientists and researchers took part in the program, in particular involving the rocket boosters developed in the 1950s and 1960s. The most famous of these was Werner von Braun, who had led the development of the Nazi V-2 program during World War II.
Another major contributor to Project Gemini were Canadian aviation and aerospace professionals, led by James Arthur “Jim” Chamberlin. In the 1950s, Chamberlin had led the program by Avro Canada to develop an interceptor aircraft capable of operating at twice the speed of sound, or Mach 2, at altitudes above 50,000 feet, known as the Avro Arrow. Despite showing great promise during flight testing, and with favorable evaluations by the United States Air Force and Britain’s Royal Air Force in hand, the Arrow program was summarily canceled for political reasons by Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker on February 20, 1959. All plans, tooling, existing air frames, and documentation supporting the program were destroyed.
Disgusted, Chamberlin led an exodus of 25 of Avro’s engineers and aviation experts to NASA’s Space Task Group’s Gemini engineering division. The group of Canadians later expanded to 32. Chamberlin became head of the engineering division, tasked as chief designer for the new project. It was Chamberlin who proposed the two man configuration, the Gemini name for the project, and the use of the Titan II missile, an intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force, as the launch vehicle. Most of the design of the Gemini spacecraft, its mission parameters, its launch procedures, and its recovery procedures, fell to the Canadians.
Astronaut Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, who had flown the second Mercury mission and who was a former USAF test pilot, worked closely with the engineers, particularly in the design of the interior of the Gemini spacecraft. A former test pilot working hand-in-hand with aviation professionals ensured the resulting spacecraft was designed with the pilot in mind, rather than the ground controllers, computers, and technicians monitoring the flights from mission control.
The Gemini capsule was equipped with an artificial horizon, which had been absent in Mercury, as well as in-flight radar. The astronaut could thus function as a pilot, rather than simply a passenger taking orders from ground-based controllers. At his hands were a joystick allowing him to control the pilot’s trilogy of yaw, pitch, and roll, and manual controllers to allow him to manipulate thrusters to move backwards, forwards, up, down, and sideways. Previous astronauts, in Mercury, only had limited control of yaw, pitch, and roll. The controls allowed the astronaut to manage the spacecraft’s translation, that is, its position. All of the astronauts who subsequently flew in Gemini found the spacecraft to be very much a pilot’s vehicle, responsive and manageable.
One problem arose over Grissom’s extensive involvement. Grissom, who was one of two astronauts on the first Gemini manned mission, was just 5’6” in height. Consequently, much of the interior was laid out to meet his own needs for reach and comfort, which made the interior decidedly cramped for taller astronauts. After the second Gemini mission, the interior of the capsule required modifications to accommodate subsequent flights.
The Canadians also designed Gemini with a feature that made it unique among American manned space vehicles. Rather than equipping the capsule with a rocket-powered emergency escape system to separate the capsule from the booster should an emergency occur at launch, Gemini was equipped with aircraft style ejection seats. Fortunately, their use was never required during the program.
The Gemini Missions
Gemini’s intent was to allow astronauts to learn to fly in space. Yet first, they had to learn how to fly Gemini. Intensive training in ground based simulators and in aircraft and water tanks provided instruction for the second and third groups of astronauts selected for the US Space Program. The first manned Gemini mission carried the first of the non-Mercury 7 astronauts into space, John Young. Young was a member of the second group of astronauts and would go on to a distinguished career with NASA, including a second Gemini flight, a trip around the moon on Apollo 10, three days on the moon in Apollo 16, and the first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1981. He later flew the shuttle a second time in 1983.
For his first mission though, he was under the command of Gus Grissom. Together they flew the first manned Gemini mission, Gemini 3, a test flight, on March 23, 1965. Grissom followed the tradition established during Mercury of giving his spaceship a nickname, in this case Molly Brown. It was a wry allusion to the loss of his Mercury capsule, which sank due to a hatch mishap following his 1961 suborbital flight. Molly Brown was a reference to The Unsinkable Molly Brown of Titanic fame, then a hit show on Broadway. Apparently, NASA didn’t see the humor. No other Gemini mission was allowed to assign a nickname to the vehicles involved, though the tradition returned with the Apollo program.
An astronaut working independently of his spacecraft was considered an essential step in meeting Kennedy’s challenge to visit the moon. In early 1965, the Soviets once again beat the Americans to the punch, completing an Extravehicular Activity, or EVA, a “spacewalk”, as it were, and sending dramatic pictures of the achievement back to Earth. With Gemini IV, American astronaut Edward White became the second man to walk in space, and the first American, completing NASA’s first extravehicular activity. From that point onward, NASA moved ahead of the Soviets in the quest to reach the moon. As it did so, the popularity of the Space Program grew with each mission.
Gemini 5, in August 1965, set a new record for endurance in space, with astronauts Gordon Cooper, a Mercury veteran, and Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr remaining in orbit for 7 days, 22 hours, and 55 minutes. The mission, which was cut one day short due to hurricane conditions approaching the recovery area, gave the Americans the record for the longest space flight, again surpassing a record set previously by the Soviets. It also established that the astronauts could remain alert and efficient over the length of time required for a mission to the moon.
Gemini 7 was launched before Gemini 6, subsequently designated Gemini 6A. Gemini 7 set another record for endurance, with James Lovell and Frank Borman remaining in orbit for just under 14 days. During their mission the two astronauts evaluated a new, lighter weight space suit, established practices for the stowage of waste, tested new foods and beverages being created by NASA contractors, and awaited the arrival of Gemini 6A. When the latter occurred, it marked the first rendezvous by manned space vehicles in orbit. The twin capsules met, flew around each other, flew alongside each other on station, and demonstrated that not only could the Americans fly in space, but that they could accomplish precision maneuvers in flight.
Next came docking with another space vehicle. Gemini 8, with a crew of Neil Armstrong and David Scott, rendezvoused and successfully docked with an Agena unmanned space vehicle designed for the purpose in March 1966. At first successful, the docking soon degenerated into a near disaster when a malfunctioning thruster caused the docked vessels to tumble uncontrollably. Armstrong, believing the problem to be with the Agena, quickly undocked, only to find the motion worsening. With both astronauts nearing the point of blacking out Armstrong managed to regain control by shutting down a series of thrusters on the Gemini. The capsule then moved to reenter the atmosphere.
The astronauts’ troubles were not yet over. Gemini 8 made a water landing in the Pacific, miles away from the nearest support ships. Naval assistance via parachute rescue arrived shortly after splashdown, but astronauts and rescuers were forced to endure a wait of over three hours in choppy waters. All were seasick, which led to dehydration. Eventually recovered by USS Leonard F. Mason, a veteran of the Pacific War, the astronauts, once rested and nourished, reported no serious injuries or ailments.
The original crew for Gemini 9 were astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett. Neither had flown in space before, and both were killed in a plane crash near St Louis’ Lambert Field on February 28, 1966. They were the first astronaut fatalities of the US Space Program. Their backup crew, James Stafford and Eugene Cernan, flew the Gemini mission, redesignated Gemini 9A, in June 1966. The mission was a troubled one. A vehicle with which they were to rendezvous and dock proved unusable due to errors by contractors while it was being prepared to launch. A scheduled EVA, by Cernan, also proved problematic, up to the point that for a while it appeared the astronaut would not be able to return to the capsule.
Stafford later reported that he had intended to begin reentry with the Gemini door remaining open and Cernan still tethered to the vehicle outside. Such an action would have incinerated both astronauts, but in Stafford’s view was a better option than abandoning his comrade to space. In the end, such heroism was unnecessary. Both astronauts would return to space during Apollo, and Gene Cernan remains, as of 2024, the last human being to walk on the moon.
Gemini 10 launched into space in the summer of 1966 intent upon rendezvousing with two separate vehicles. The first was an Agena launched for the purpose just days before. The second was a meeting with the Agena abandoned by Gemini 8, which had since drifted, having lost electrical power. The ambitious mission was a complete success, included 2 EVAs by astronaut Michael Collins, and proved again the relative ease by which the Americans could maneuver their spaceships in earth orbit. NASA was truly “flying” in space, with the astronaut/pilot an integral part of the process. For example, when Gemini 10 approached the dead Agena from Gemini 8, it was done entirely through visual inputs from the pilot.
Planning for Apollo included the necessity of the astronauts departing the lunar surface rendezvousing with the Apollo Command Module via direct ascent. That is, they must meet on the first orbit after leaving the lunar surface. As of September, 1966 a direct ascent rendezvous had yet to be achieved. Gemini 11 accomplished that task, docking with an Agena vehicle. After docking, the Gemini crew fired the Agena’s main engine, and reached an orbital altitude of 739 nautical miles, over 1,300 kms. It remains the highest altitude achieved during crewed orbit as of 2024.
In November 1966, Gemini 12 flew the last mission of the Gemini program. It included three separate EVAs, conducted by astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, which finally demonstrated that astronauts could work effectively outside their spacecraft for extended periods. The modifications and improvements to the spacesuits worn by astronauts throughout the Gemini program finally proved their worth. With the completion of Gemini 12, NASA had met or exceeded the goals of the entire program. The astronauts had successfully demonstrated the ability to fly in space, rendezvous and dock with other vehicles, work effectively outside their spacecraft, and respond to emergencies in space safely and with minimal damage. NASA was ready to move forward with Project Apollo and a trip to the moon.
Gemini’s Popularity Soared with Each Mission
Space, space flight, the astronauts, and growing American success led to NASA becoming a symbol of American technological achievement in the mid-1960s. Space themes permeated American culture. The astronauts themselves became celebrities and were welcome guests on television, on both entertainment and information programs. The Gemini missions came in rapid succession, six in 1965 alone, and their presence dominated the airwaves.
Space foods marketed for public consumption, and based on some of the foods consumed by the astronauts during their missions, appeared on store shelves. Although publicly the astronauts were complimentary toward the food NASA provided, privately they were less than pleased. This information was not provided to the public. One example of astronaut food offered for public consumption was Space Food Sticks, by Pillsbury, a precursor of energy bars.
Toys featuring space exploration, plastic modeling kits, comics and coloring books, toy helmets, toy space suits, mission control mockups, some elaborate and some less so, all became popular toys.
At the time there were only three major American television networks, CBS, NBC, and ABC, and all three championed NASA’s manned programs, covering the launches, breaking into scheduled broadcasts to air significant events during the missions, and providing extensive coverage of the recovery of the astronauts on mission completion.
Television coverage was usually centered on the Mission Control Center, in Houston, Texas. Launch coverage alternated between Houston and Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy in honor of the late President. The news coverage drew strong ratings for all three networks, and cutting edge graphics and animations (for 1965, anyway) were a feature of their programming.
Gemini missions were a part of entertainment television as well. In September 1965, NBC debuted a new situation comedy starring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman titled, I Dream of Jeannie. The program featured a genie named Jeannie found trapped in a bottle after astronaut Tony Nelson’s one-man space capsule landed near an island, miles distant from his planned recovery area. Over the course of the series’ run, Gemini launches and images of Gemini missions being prepared on the launch pad were featured in numerous episodes. Eventually, the program was retconned, with another astronaut character, Roger Healey, described as having accompanied Tony during the mission that ended with Jeannie being discovered. The retconning implied Tony and Roger had been on a Gemini mission, one of the many launched in 1965.
Gemini’s Legacy is Enduring
The Gemini missions took place in 1965 and 1966, a period where the United States began to feel the significant tremors that affected society for the rest of the decade. In 1965, when Gemini began flights, few Americans had ever heard of faraway places such as Da Nang, Saigon, and Hanoi. By the end of 1966, the War in Vietnam was dominating nightly newscasts in the United States, with rising body counts leading to questions over America’s role in Southeast Asia. Americans began to distrust their government.
At home, Civil Rights demonstrations and protests, and major urban riots, led many to question the role of state and municipal governments in the United States. Then, in January 1967, a tragic fire in the Apollo One space capsule killed three astronauts, including Gemini veterans Gus Grissom and Ed White, along with Roger Chafee. The tragedy seriously compromised public confidence in the space program, largely undoing much of the goodwill which Gemini’s success had brought about.
The space program obviously did recover, and Apollo finally landed Gemini veterans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in July, 1969. Orbiting the moon above them was another Gemini veteran, Michael Collins. Following the Apollo missions, the United States conducted the Skylab program and developed the Space Shuttle. Gemini veterans took part in the Skylab program, including several who served in the three onboard missions in the 1970s.
Gemini astronaut John Young, who flew on the first manned Gemini mission with Gus Grissom onboard Molly Brown, later flew as command pilot for the first manned Space Shuttle mission.
Use of Gemini components, including the space capsule, was considered by both NASA and the US Air Force following completion of the program in 1966. The proven reliability and the praise it had earned from the astronaut-pilots led NASA to consider a modified Gemini capsule, with supporting additional equipment, being used to shuttle astronauts to the proposed space stations under consideration in the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually, NASA found the plans unworkable. The USAF considered Gemini for several potential military applications, but they balked when it became evident that Gemini capsules required Naval intervention to be recovered after flight and that there was no way around that contingency. Rather than share development with the US Navy, the USAF dropped its interest.
In 1967, the latest installment in the James Bond film series, You Only Live Twice, was released. Its plot included the seizure of an American space capsule, Jupiter 16, by nefarious evildoers. The spacecraft depicted was a Gemini, easily recognizable by western audiences after its two years of successful operation, faithfully depicted by television around the world. The 1968 film Countdown, starring James Caan, also featured a Gemini capsule, modified to carry a single astronaut.
All of the Gemini capsules that successfully completed manned missions are displayed in locations across the United States. In addition, numerous mockups and trainers are displayed, some in somewhat unusual locations, including in private homes, and one, an early mockup designed to use a paraglider, on display in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The Gemini Program, brief as it was, remains one of the most unqualified successes in the relatively young science of space travel. There is little doubt that, had Gemini not taken place, America would still have gone to the moon. Yet, Gemini carried American astronauts into space in pairs, earning the approbation of the public, and the praise of the astronauts themselves. They flew in a vehicle that allowed them to learn how to fly in space, how to achieve formation with other vehicles, and how to work outside their spaceships. Gemini was but one of many thousands of steps that ultimately led to Neil Armstrong’s “one small step”. Yet, it was a critical one.
