the program in which the technologies that were later used in the Apollo program and later even in the space station were tested; It has been proven that man is able to stay in space for more than 14 days. and that he can operate outside the spaceship with his body in a spacesuit for an extended period of time.
Compared to the Mercury program, which we dealt with in the previous chapter, ten manned launches were carried out in the Gemini program and it proved several things that have far-reaching effects regarding the future and they are:
A. Man is able to stay in space for more than 14 days.
B. Man can operate outside the spaceship with his body in a spacesuit for an extended period of time.
third. Encounters can be made between spaceships. attach them to each other and separate them without special difficulty.
d. It is possible to reach an altitude of over 1400 km without the danger of the astronauts being harmed by radiation or other factors.
God. A spacecraft can be navigated with precision and landed on Earth at a distance that does not exceed a few kilometers from a predetermined point.
The structure of the spaceship
In its external form, the Gemini is similar to the Mercury spacecraft, except that it is larger. Its base is 3 meters wide, 5.6 meters long and weighs over 3 tons. The volume of Gemini is 50% greater than that of Mercury. Mercury has one porthole and Gemini two. The internal structure of Gemini is similar to that of Mercury. Its various goals required the implementation of several changes and the installation of new systems. To facilitate the inspection and maintenance of the electronic systems, they were installed outside the crew cabin, as mobile units. The systems used by the spaceship to connect with other spaceships were:
A. Computer and navigation and control devices to help with navigation, determining the rendezvous in space, returning to Earth and landing.
B. Radar facilities for performing the rendezvous maneuvers.
.third. landing systems.
For emergencies during launch or landing, the astronauts could activate their ejection seats. The launch vehicle does not have an escape tower. In addition to the command and control systems directly connected to the command cabin, there are other systems in the spacecraft, they are installed in the second part of the spacecraft. The diameter of this part at its base is 3 meters and 2.25 meters at its narrow base. It is 2.25 meters long and weighs 924 kg. Before landing, this part was detached from the manned cabin. In this part there are two cells. In the first cell there are fuel cells to create electricity and drinking water by combining hydrogen and oxygen, oxygen cells, hydrogen cells. Impulse system for performing maneuvers. In the second compartment there is a direction inverter adjacent to the heat shield of the spaceship and in it braking rockets to reduce the speed and a starting system to perform the maneuvers. A total of two unmanned launches were carried out to test systems and ten manned launches.
Gemini 1
On April 8, 1964, Gemini 1 was launched. This spacecraft was launched by a Titan 2 two-stage rocket for 4 days. The spacecraft orbited the Earth while attached to the second stage of the launch vehicle. The weight of the spaceship is 3.5 tons. 9 Important changes were made to the spaceship, but there was still some concern regarding the nature of the spaceship. During its operation and during the flight in the atmosphere, a strong vibration was felt in the spaceship.
Gemini 2
On January 19, 1965, Gemini 2 was launched for a suborbital flight with "electronic robots". Gemini 2 reached an altitude of 168 km, flew about 3000 km and its speed reached 25,000 km. The spacecraft landed about two hours after launch. From the tests done after the landing, it became clear that the spacecraft passed the test, successfully.
Gemini 3
The first manned spacecraft in the Gemini program was Gemini 3. The spacecraft was launched on March 23, 1965 with astronauts John Young and Virgil Grissom on board. Grissom and Young circled the Earth 3 times in 4 hours and 53 minutes. In this flight, the astronauts performed several experiments and they:
- Changing the spacecraft's flight path. During the flight they changed the flight path 3 times. During this experiment they had to perform various maneuvers such as adjusting the spacecraft when it is upside down. 6 minutes after launch, the spacecraft entered its first orbit. The distances of the track from the ground ranged from 160 to 240 km. After that, they activated the auxiliary engines that put the spacecraft into a circular orbit that is 160 km from the ground. In the last maneuver, the spacecraft was put into an orbit whose release point is 80 km.
- The astronauts brought sea urchin eggs with them and fertilized them artificially. The purpose of the experiment was to test whether the lack of weight slows down or speeds up the fundamental processes of life.
- A jar of blood was irradiated by an artificial radioactive source. To find out what is the combined effect of radiation in a state of weightlessness on human cells.
- An attempt was made to "open a window" in the absolute isolation mode that prevents any contact with the spacecraft when it returns to Earth. The disconnection is caused by the heating of the air around the spacecraft, which turns into a sort of vacuum envelope. The astronauts tried to cool part of the shell by a water jet.
At the end of the flight, a malfunction occurred, as a result of which the spaceship missed the landing spot by 93 km.
Gemini 4
The original plan for Gemini 4 involved hovering in space and rendezvous with the final stage of the launch vehicle (of Gemini 4) at the same time. Only part of the plan came to fruition and that is the levitation in space. The astronauts manning this flight were James McDivett and Edward Witt. The launch was on June 3, 1965 after a delay of 34 minutes. The delay was due to a technical fault in the engines that hold the pillars supporting the missile before launch.
After the third lap (in second place) Edward Witt attached himself to a gold-plated cable 8 meters long and exited the spaceship. It was equipped with a camera, a speed gun and a tiny jet engine. He had to approach up to a distance of 7 meters from the stage of the rocket in order to photograph the mirror in space.
At that time McDivot was to hold the meeting with the phase of the missile. When Witt exited the spacecraft, McDivot activated the booster rockets to guide the spacecraft to a distance of 13 meters from the stage of the rocket. Despite all efforts, this attempt was unsuccessful. As the rocket moved rapidly away from the spacecraft and in his attempt to approach it, McDivett used up too much fuel and had to abandon this part of the operation. In his attempt to approach the rocket stage, McDivot lost his camera. After hovering for 21 minutes in space (in 12th place) Witt returned to the spacecraft. The astronauts labored for about half an hour on the spacecraft's hatch due to a malfunction in the spring of the mechanism that closes it.
The astronauts circled the Earth in an orbit that is 120-180 km from the ground, 62 times in a time of 97 hours and 56 minutes.
On the third day of the flight, the computer stopped working. So that the spacecraft could enter the atmosphere at the right angle, McDivett activated the reserve systems during the landing. On June 7, the spacecraft landed. Due to a malfunction in the computers, the landing was 80 km away from the planned landing site.
During the flight, the astronauts accumulated data on the effect of prolonged weightlessness on the human body and many data on space flight. During the flight, they noticed many satellites, one of which, according to them, "had long and protruding arms". McDivett lost 1.8 kg of his weight during the flight and White 3.6 kg. After the flight the astronauts felt very tired and the heart rate was higher than usual. McDivett's ears and nose were blocked for some time after the flight.
Gemini 5
Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper were scheduled to depart on August 19, 1965 for an 8-day stay in Earth orbit. Technical glitches and a thunderstorm resulted in the launch being postponed by three days to August 21. Unlike the previous flights, this time they used fuel cells instead of batteries because of the length of the mission. The goals of the flight were:
- Testing and evaluating the spacecraft's ability to operate for 8 days. Time enough to fly to the moon and back.
- Assessing the effects of a prolonged stay in space on the two astronauts.
- Assessing the capability of the navigation system designed to bring the spacecraft together with another body in space moving on a similar trajectory.
In the third hour of the flight, the astronauts had to detach a pod-like object from the spacecraft. The spaceship had radar equipment and a data computer developed by Konrad that allowed him to decide which was the most efficient way to approach the pod.
On the second lap, the spacecraft ejected the pod. A few minutes later, several faults were discovered in the main fuel supply system and in the fuel cells. The continuation of the rendezvous maneuvers would have put a heavy burden on the electrical system, therefore the maneuvers were stopped and the operation was postponed. The rendezvous with the pod was postponed, as such a maneuver would have used a slightly larger amount of fuel than the fuel cells were capable of producing. All the failures manifested themselves in the drop in pressure in the oxygen cell of the new battery system. All of these led to thoughts about stopping the flight, what's more, the pressure continued to drop for another day. Due to the drop in pressure, the astronauts had to greatly reduce the use of the computer, the radar and the radio equipment. Due to deficiencies in the heating mechanism, the spacecraft's power output was reduced during that night. The astronauts shut down non-essential instruments in the spacecraft and reduced maneuvering operations to conserve power.
On the third day of the flight there was an improvement in the power system and later the system returned to normal. In the meantime, the backpack was lost and the meeting with him was cancelled. Instead, the astronauts held a "meeting" with a simulated rocket. The "meeting" was done in 4 stages. In accordance with the instructions from the ground, the astronauts in the 47th lap changed the height and direction four times until they came within 25 meters of the "missile".
The excess hydrogen in the fuel cell kept growing. There was concern that the flight would end prematurely. Despite this, the spacecraft stayed in space as planned. Towards the end of the flight, on August 29, a malfunction was discovered in the pair of pumps of the control rockets designed to regulate the horizontal oscillations of the spacecraft. In this malfunction there was no fear for the lives of the astronauts. During their flight, the astronauts noticed the launch of a Minuteman ballistic missile. They circled the earth 120 times in 90 hours and 56 minutes. In medical tests done after the flight, it became clear that the Gemini 5 pilots suffered from a significant loss of calcium.
Meeting in space - Gemini 6 Gemini 7
In October 1965, Walter Shira and Thomas Stanford had to attach their Gemini 6 spacecraft to the Agena 6 rocket. For some reason, the Agena fell 6 minutes after launch into the sea, and because of this, this operation was canceled. Instead, Shira and Stanford were involved in a new operation that they held two months later on February 15, in collaboration with the Gemini 7 spacecraft, and that is a meeting in space.
Gemini 7 with astronauts Frank Burman and James Lovell was launched on December 4, 1965 for a period of two weeks, with the high point being the meeting with Gemini 6. The objectives of the operation were:
- A. to test a person's ability to stay weightless for a long period of time.
- B. To follow the dreams of Borman and find out if astronauts can sleep normally in a state of weightlessness. If they are able to move in a state of weightlessness in such a way that allows them to do their job.
- third. Unlike previous flights, both astronauts slept at the same time.
- d. On the 29th lap, Lovell removed his space suit and remained in his underwear. This action was necessary to know if the moisture emitted from the human body accumulates or freezes on the windows of the spacecraft.
- God. If favorable weather conditions were created, the astronauts would follow the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Vandenburg base in California using infrared radiation. Borman and Lovell failed to execute this plan and instead watched the launch of the Polaris missile for about 3 minutes.
- and. An attachment experiment using a laser beam. Due to a malfunction in the receiving station on Earth on December 10, the attempt was postponed by one day. That day the contact lasted for two minutes. When James Lovell talked to the tracking station, Frank Borman made sure the spacecraft was pointed in the right direction for the station for the entire time the conversation was going on.
The principle of the device's operation is that of frequency modulation transmission, except that in this case the modulated wave is not a Rio frequency wave, but rather an infrared wave (very close to the range of light waves) emitted by the laser device. The special feature of this wave lies in the high degree of concentration of the beam emitted by the laser, which means that even if the beam travels a great distance, it does not lose much of its power. The laser beams are produced from a crystal of solid material illuminated by normal light. The voice of the astronaut using this special device exerts pressure on the crystal and causes frequency changes (corresponding to the sounds heard from his throat) in the voice emanating from the laser and at the receiving end the voice can be identified by eliminating the laser that serves as the carrier of the speech waves.
Three Earth observation stations participated in this study. One in the state of New Mexico in the USA, the second in the Hawaiian Islands and the third in Asuncion Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The astronauts directed themselves to the tracking station with the help of a laser beam transmitted from the station to the spaceship by discovering the location of the station, aiming the transmission device at the beam of light transmitted from the station and then start talking on the device.
There are some constraints that make the operation difficult. The first constraint to perform the task is that the cloud cover should not be too thick. A second constraint is that the interlocutor must be constantly oriented in the direction of the tracking station as the spacecraft moves in orbit. In order for this condition to be met, the spacecraft's hatch must be maneuvered by rolling it around an axis, so that the hatch remains pointed at the tracking station for the maximum amount of time.
The question arises as to how Lobel could know if the direction in which he is transmitting is indeed accurate. This procedure is verified by a special device located in the spaceship that signals to the transmitter operator if the beam that he is transmitting indeed combines with the beam coming from Earth, because of the pulses created by the union of the two beams moving in opposite directions.
The course of the meeting between the spaceships
The meeting itself was preceded by several preparations:
A. A day after the launch of Gemini 7, its pilots changed the altitude from 160 km to 222 km.
B. On December 10, Burman changed the flight path and later changed the shape of the path from elliptical to circular, which is 298 km from the ground. On December 8, a malfunction was discovered in Gemini 6's computer and it was replaced with a new one. Because of this, there was zero hope of advancing its launch by a day.
Both spacecraft had the same computer. When Gemini 6 entered the radar range of Gemini 7 (320 km) a tiny computer (weighing 27 kg and consuming 94.5 watts) started operating in it. The main purpose of the computer was to receive the location data transmitted to it from the Gemini 6 radar, from its instruments and from the ground. Based on this data, the computer transmits precise instructions regarding the ignition timing of the navigation engines and the power that should be activated to bring the two spacecraft closer to each other. To reach these instructions, the computer processes dozens of data and variables of the spacecraft's trajectory, its relative position, height from the ground, and more. At the end of the meeting, the computer continues with the ongoing processing of information to determine the place and time of ignition of the braking rockets that will return the spaceship to Earth and land it in a pre-determined place.
Due to many orbits around the earth, Borman Lobel's sense of time was disturbed to such an extent that on December 11 they announced their preparations for the meeting "tomorrow" when the meeting was supposed to be on the 13th. A malfunction in the ignition mechanism of Gemini 6 caused the entire operation to be postponed until the 15th (the first time that a manned launch vehicle does not lift off during ignition). It was 4 nations that secured the Titan 2 launch vehicle and probably saved the lives of Shira and Stanford. The function of the nuts is to engage the launch vehicle for three seconds after ignition to allow the engines to develop strong pressure for a successful launch.
If everything had gone as planned, small explosive charges would have detonated the nuts at the end of three seconds and enabled the missile to lift off. Since there was a malfunction in one of the parts of the ignition mechanism, the electronic signal to detonate the explosives was not received, and thus the lives of the astronauts were probably saved. In those fateful seconds, Shira had to make a very significant decision whether to activate the ejection mechanism of the ejection seats outside the spaceship. Shira knew that if he did this the whole operation would go down the drain and therefore he refrained from doing so, despite the danger involved. Later, a malfunction was discovered in the launch vehicle and it was repaired.
In the meantime, a malfunction occurred in one of the Gemini 7 fuel tanks and it was repaired. Close to the time of the meeting, there was a fear that the spacecraft would collide with the Echo 6 research satellite, because the spacecraft and the satellite were moving in the same orbit. It turned out to be a false fear. The distance between the spacecraft and the satellite was 698 km.
On February 15, Gemini 6 was launched. With its launch, the spacecraft entered an orbit whose distance from the ground is 161-259 km. Later, the spacecraft moved to a circular orbit parallel to that of Gemini 7. 6 hours and 3 minutes after launch, the two spacecraft were found at a distance of 298 from the Earth and the distance between them was less than 2.5 km from each other. 5 minutes later the distance between them was reduced to 37 meters. After another 10 minutes, the distance between them was reduced to 6 meters, and after another 14 minutes, the two spaceships were 3 meters apart, according to the astronauts' estimate. Measurements made on the photos of the meeting showed that the distance was less than that. 60-90 cm.
Shira performed a loop flight around Gemini 7. Both spacecraft flew a formation flight for 5.5 hours. Then he reduced the speed of his spacecraft and moved to a lower orbit and on December 16, after 16 orbits of the Earth, the spacecraft landed. Gemini 6 orbited the Earth for 25 hours and 7 minutes.
Towards the end of Gemini 6's flight, Gemini 7 had some problems. The astronauts had trouble starting their booster rockets. with the help of which the horizontal oscillations of the spacecraft can be stabilized. Two of these systems did not work or worked irregularly. Because of this, they were unable to direct the spacecraft towards Gemini 6, which intended to activate the braking rockets before returning to Earth. Later, malfunctions occurred in both of the spaceship's fuel tanks needed to generate electricity to power the spaceship. There was concern that the landing would be brought forward to the 16th. Despite this, the spacecraft landed as planned on December 18.
Gemini 7 circled the Earth 226 times over 320 hours. During their flight, Borman and Lobel noticed various objects which they defined as "space debris". They also saw a satellite and missile parts flying in a polar orbit and an unidentified object resembling a piece of paper or film.
Gemini 8
March 14, 1966 was the original date for the launch of Gemini 8. Deficiencies in the launch vehicle and spacecraft led to the postponement of the launch to March 16. The astronauts who flew this spacecraft were DeWitt Scott and Neil Armstrong. The purpose of their flight was to determine if life could exist in space up to a distance of hundreds of kilometers beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
Shortly before the launch, the A'Ghana 8 spacecraft was launched. Attached to it is a small box designed to absorb space dust. Scott's job was to get out of space and stay outside it 2.5. hours. And in the process maintain contact with the ajna, stick a special paper to its nose that any bone the ajna encounters will stick to it and another piece of paper covered with viruses and microorganisms. The purpose of the experiment was to allow testing of the weightlessness and exposure of the viruses to the conditions of space. The removal of the box and the two papers were intended for the Gemini 10 pilots.
After a chase of 190,000 km, the Gemini caught up with Ajna and on the fifth lap connected with it at an altitude of 290 km. The spacecraft connected at a relative speed of 2.5 km/h. 40 minutes after logging in, the astronauts activated a voice recorder. The two connected spacecraft began to rotate around their axis at a speed of 36 degrees per second. That is, every round once for 10 seconds. This rotation was caused by a short in the guidance system of one of the navigation rockets. A dangerous vortex was created that was barely controlled. The navigation rocket consumed a large amount of fuel. Since the regulations stated that the flight must be stopped immediately upon activation of the blowing system intended for the return to Earth, it was necessary to return the spacecraft. The astronauts were unable to activate the main engines to stop the spin. The auxiliary engines were activated and an emergency landing was made.
The astronauts circled the Earth 7 times in 10 hours and 42 minutes instead of 71 hours. The spacecraft landed at a distance of 880 km from Okinawa, only 1.6 km from the landing site. On this day, the Agena activated its engines and moved to a higher orbit. After detaching from Gemini 8, it stopped spinning and its flight was stabilized.
Gemini 9
According to the plan, Thomas Stanford and Eugene Sarnan were supposed to embark on their journey in Gemini 9 on May 17, 1966. During part of their journey, they had to make a connection with Agena 9, which was launched that day in order to test the possibility of rescuing astronauts trapped in the spacecraft and find out the possibility of Transferring equipment from spacecraft to spacecraft and storing equipment in the spacecraft. The Agena did not enter a terrestrial orbit due to the disintegration of the launch vehicle. It was decided to perform the rendezvous with a small target spacecraft with no auxiliary means. The target was put into orbit on June 1. The release of the astronauts was postponed until June 1. A malfunction in the guidance system of the Titan 2 launch vehicle led to another postponement of the launch by 48 hours. On June 3, Gemini 9 was launched with complete success. Cernan, who was going to float in space for 2.5 hours, delayed his departure by 25 hours due to his and his flight mate's fatigue.
After the astronauts were able to approach the target spacecraft to within 3 meters, it became clear that the shield of its adhesion device made of fiber glass was not detached even though the explosion mechanism designed to detach and launch small jets via remote control was activated. After the attempts to remotely disconnect the mechanism have failed. It was suggested that Cernan disconnect the mechanism with cutting pliers while operating outside the spaceship. Due to the high risk involved, the proposal was removed from the agenda.
The astronauts announced that they photographed the target spacecraft many times so that it would be possible to find out the causes of the failure of the attachment mechanism shield. This operation was also unsuccessful and it was decided that Cernan would closely observe the shield while it was floating in space. After performing the maneuvers to connect, the amount of fuel in the tanks dropped to 12%. From tests conducted after the flight it became clear that there was a mistake in connecting the wires. The cover of the target did not open because it was torn along its entire length.
According to the plan, Cernan would have to be attached to a special chair-like device equipped with a supply of oxygen, navigation rockets and independent communication devices during his levitation. If this maneuver were to be carried out, Cernan would become the first human satellite of the Earth. Since he was not successful in this, he connected himself to the spaceship with an 8 meter long cable with oxygen supply pipes and communication wires inside. The mechanical work in space that included removing a fiberglass cover attached to the back of the spacecraft raised his heart rate from 70 to 170. The sharp transitions in flight from day to night created extreme temperature differences, 120 degrees when the sun was shining and shortly after on the dark side the temperature dropped to 100 degrees below zero. Because of this, the water vapor in Cernan's suit froze and blurred his vision. The hovering in space is shortened by 23 minutes from 2.5 hours to 2 hours and 7 minutes. To do this, Cernan had to reconnect the cable to his body after disconnecting it earlier. The great fatigue forced him to rest.
A moment of anxiety struck the astronauts when they tried to close the hatch of the spacecraft. At first they didn't succeed. After resting they managed to close the opening together. A previous malfunction that was related to the oxygen system was overcome according to instructions they received from the control center. Cernan and Stanford circled the Earth 44 times in 77 hours and 21 minutes.
Gemini 10
On July 18, 1966, the Gemini 10 spacecraft was launched, carrying astronauts John Young and Michael Collins. The purpose of the flight was to connect with the Agena 10 spacecraft which was launched before their launch in 101 minutes. In the first phase of the flight, Collins opened the spacecraft, stood on his seat and peered into the depths of space with half of his body outside the spacecraft. In this position he photographed various objects such as stars and satellites. The duration of the shoot is shortened from 70 minutes to 56 minutes. A chemical (lithium hydroxide) found in the oxygen supply system of the spacesuits made the astronauts cry.
The rendezvous and connection with Agena 10 was carried out without any problems, although twice as much fuel was consumed as intended. On the other hand, there is a lot of fuel left in the Agena's tanks. Yang activated the Agena engine using his spaceship's control panel. The two spacecraft raised the altitude to 2 km. Then came the attempt to connect with Agena 763. Yang disconnected Gemini from Agena 8 and reduced the spacecraft's distance from Earth to 10 km and started chasing Agena 390. From a distance of 8 km in 250 hours The Jamani caught up with the Ajna and flew beside her. Gemini came within inches of her. The amount of fuel left in the Gemini was so small that it was unable to make another connection.
As Gemini approached Agena, Collins strapped himself into the maneuvering straps of his suit's back unit and arrived at Agena. Then he got back to the spacecraft 27 minutes later instead of 55 minutes. Its hovering time is shortened due to a lack of fuel. Collins approached Agena, touched her and removed from her a small box designed to collect space dust. He tried to attach to Agena a research box similar to the one he removed from her, he was unsuccessful. He threw it away and lost the camera. The box that was returned to Israel underwent a series of studies to verify the hypothesis that they were created from "seeds of life" that arrived on Earth. The studies are designed to check that the dust contains signs of the existence of life. Gemini 10 circled the Earth 43 times in 70 hours and 47 minutes. The astronauts reported short flying saucers, with maneuverability similar to the second stage of a rocket. Collins later reported a flying saucer that passed over Australia in a north-south direction.
Gemini 11
After two delays due to a technical fault, a puncture in Titan 2's fuel tank and severe weather conditions, Gemini 11 was launched on September 12, 1966. The astronauts manning the spacecraft were Richard Gordon and Charles Conrad. The goals of the flight were:
A. A quick meeting with Agena 11 already in the first lap.
B. Ascended to a height of 1373 km.
third. Richard Gordon's 107-minute stay in space. Time needed for him to connect the Ajna to the Gemini with a cable.
d. Detecting nuclear weapons in space.
God. automatic landing.
Gemini 11 entered a circular orbit that is 430 km from Earth. Even before the end of the first lap, the astronauts began their pursuit of the Agena. The speed of the spacecraft was increased by 3 km/h. Later the speed of the spaceship was increased by 155 km/h and the distance between the spaceships was reduced. Fifteen minutes after the start of the operation, 94 minutes after launch, the two spacecraft connected. The astronauts performed several intermittent dockings without guidance from the ground. All this was done using 45% of the amount of fuel intended for this. The two spacecraft flew together for 3 hours.
In the second stage, the spacecraft rose from an altitude of 296 km to an altitude of 1373 km. The spacecraft passed through the Van Allen belts. In this maneuver it was proved that it is possible to pass through the radiation belts without harming the spacecraft and the astronauts, essential information for more advanced stages such as a flight to the moon. The spacecraft circled the Earth at this altitude twice.
In the third stage, Gordon got out of the spaceship. This step was not fully implemented due to unexpected failures. After 44 minutes he returned to the spacecraft exhausted and breathing heavily and rapidly. His breathing was clearly heard in the control center. He rested in the spacecraft for 36 minutes and came out. Two minutes later he felt very hot and sweat flooded his body. Gordon returned to the spaceship and never left it again. In total, he stayed outside the spaceship for 46 minutes instead of 107. These difficulties did not prevent him from performing some of the tasks assigned to him. Gordon was tied to a 10 meter long cable and maneuvered with a jet gun he had in his hand, rode the Agena and connected the spaceships with a 30 meter long cable.
By using the steering rockets, the two spaceships were put into a rotational motion with the cable stretched between them and a weak artificial gravity was created. A pencil that was floating in the spaceship slowly fell to the side. A few moments after Gordon's extravehicular activity, the astronauts noticed some body approaching them from the left. It may very well have been trash thrown away or something else. This body was photographed.
Gemini 11 orbited the Earth 44 times in a time of 71 hours and 17 minutes. It was placed by a computer only. The landing was in the Pacific Ocean 1200 km from Cape Kennedy.
Gemini 12
November 11, 1966 is the end date of another program in space exploration, the Gemini program, which was reflected in the launch of the Gemini 12 spaceship with astronauts James Lovell and Edwin Aldrin. The goals of the flight were to connect with Agena 12, an extravehicular activity, to determine the degree of effort that a person can withstand in the conditions prevailing in space and to photograph a solar eclipse in South America.
3.5 hours after the launch, the spacecraft connected with Agena 12. During the connection, the computer did not indicate the changes in the distance to the target. The connection was carried out visually and with manual control. The two spacecraft flew together for 48 hours. On the second day of the flight, Aldrin opened the hatch of the spacecraft and rose so that the upper half of his body was outside the spacecraft. He performed gymnastic exercises and then placed an ultraviolet camera on the side of the spacecraft and photographed many stars, especially Cassiopeia. This activity lasted 30 minutes.
Aldrin and Lovell thought of photographing the solar eclipse from an altitude of 736 km. A malfunction in one of the engines of the Agena spaceship prevented the possibility of liftoff. Another angle was calculated at an altitude of 300 km, which the astronauts reached with the help of a weaker secondary engine. Before the photo, the astronauts wore special goggles with dark lenses and the spacecraft windows were covered with special light filters.
On the third day of the flight Aldrin exited the spacecraft and worked outside the spacecraft for 2 hours 9 minutes and 25 seconds. Aldrin connected Gemini to Agena with a thin nylon cable while the two spacecraft were close together. 3 hours later the Gemini detached itself from the Ajna in an attempt to fly a structure flight while the connecting cable was taut. Certain difficulties arose during the flight. Two of the Gemini's rockets malfunctioned so that it was difficult to stabilize the spacecraft.. Aldrin connected nuts and openings, made electrical connections and more. He left a symbol of the USA in space with the inscription: "November 11 - Veterans Day - Peace to all the people of the world who strived and will strive for peace and freedom in the world." Aldrin's success was rooted in his ability to float in space very comfortably thanks to special equipment that included devices that were attached in various places to the outer wall of the spacecraft and served as grip points, which was not present in previous flights.
On the fourth day of the flight, Aldrin opened the spacecraft's hatch again and lifted off to take another picture of stars and of a yellowish cloud of sodium powder scattered at a height of 100-150 km above the earth. This powder was dispersed by 2 French Meteorological Missiles of the Senator model from the Amagor base in the Sahara. This activity lasted 59 minutes.
Biological experiments were also included in this flight. Inside the spacecraft were 20 fertilized frog eggs. The biologists wanted to know if the lack of weight would cause unusual phenomena in the growth of the young frogs, such as the formation of two-headed tadpoles.
Four days after launch on November 15, Gemini 12 landed with complete success. Gemini circled the Earth 59 times in a time of 94 hours and 35 minutes.
Additional episodes in the series:
Russian exploration of Mars in the sixties and seventies
The Apollo manned flight series
3 תגובות
"In the Pacific Ocean 1200 km from Cape Kennedy." Tsel in the Atlantic Ocean