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Unlike today’s crewed spacecraft, the Gemini crew cabin was pressurized with pure oxygen at about one-third standard atmospheric pressure to save weight. The nose of this module also contained an L-band radar system for orbital rendezvous operations. The first section was the reentry module which housed the crew, their equipment, food supplies and so on in orbit as well as the recovery systems needed to safely return them to Earth. Built by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (which merged with Douglas in 1967 to become McDonnell Douglas which subsequently merged with Boeing 30 years later), it consisted of two major sections. Gemini was a two-man spacecraft that was roughly conical in shape with a base diameter of 3.3 meters which stood 5.8 meters tall. Meeting all of these objectives was necessary if the Apollo lunar program were to be successful.ĭiagram showing the major systems of the Gemini spacecraft. – Demonstrate the technology and techniques needed to perform EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activities) – Demonstrate rendezvous and docking techniques in orbit
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– Demonstrate that humans and their equipment can survive up to two weeks in space The major objectives of the program were: The purpose of NASA’s Gemini program was to develop the technologies and techniques needed to fulfill President Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon by 1970. The Gemini 10 mission of July 1966 would begin to address these issues and continue to expand the envelope of NASA’s capabilities. Despite the successes, there were still challenges to overcome with only three Gemini flights remaining before the planned end of the program. More importantly, NASA had completed seven crewed flights with their two-man Gemini spacecraft to gain the practical experience needed to fly Apollo to the Moon and back. By the summer of that year, NASA’s Surveyor 1 spacecraft had successfully landed on the Moon (see “ Surveyor 1: America’s First Lunar Landing”) confirming that it was possible and the first Lunar Orbiter was being prepared for launch so that it could map potential landing sites (see “ Lunar Orbiter 1: America’s First Lunar Satellite“). With less than four years left to reach that goal, NASA had already begun the first unmanned tests of the new Apollo spacecraft in space and it was hoped that the first manned test flights would fly by year’s end (see “ The First Flight of the Apollo-Saturn IB”). The year 1966 was a busy one for the US space program and its push to reach the Moon by the end of the decade.