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Spacecraft Heat Shield Mission: Gemini-Titan 5   Crew: L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. Charles Conrad, Jr. Launch: August 21, 1965   Landing: August 29, 1965   Duration: 7 Days, 22 hours   Comment: Gemini 5 set a new duration record Encased in an acrylic cylinder 3 inches in diameter, 2.5 inches tall, and engraved "Gemini V Aug. 21-29, 1965" at its bottom, the top 1/4 inch of this segment of Gemini V heat shield was charred from the intense frictional heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. The Gemini capsule's heat shield was constructed of a load-carrying Fiberglas sandwich structure consisting of two 5-ply faceplates of resin-impregnated glass cloth separated by a .65-in. thick honeycomb core. An additional Fiberglas honeycomb was bonded to the convex side of the sandwich and filled with Dow-Corning DC-325 ablative material. back to Artifacts © 1999-2008 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. Questions? E-mail contact@collectspace.com