posted 11-12-2016 07:20 AM               

Space Cover of the Week #391: Gemini-Titan 12: 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, on November 11, 1966, the tenth and final Gemini manned spaceflight began, with a Titan II liftoff from LC-19 at Cape Kennedy, FL, with astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin aboard. Planned were three EVA's by Aldrin; rendezvous and docking with an Agena Target Vehicle; and a boost to a higher orbit by the Agena. However, the refiring and boost by the Agena was canceled because of a propulsion anomaly with the Agena.

However, the GT-12 mission was deemed highly successful, with Aldrin's problem-free EVA's, demonstrating that astronauts could safely work outside their spacecraft and also proving the reliability of rendezvous and docking, both critical to future Apollo lunar landing missions.

The successful GT-12 flight came to a conclusion after almost four days in space and 59 orbits, with splashdown and a recovery on November 15th by the Prime Recovery Ship USS Wasp.

The cover at the top marks the Gemini 12 liftoff and is autographed by Lovell and Aldrin. The poorly-applied small blue rubber stamp cachet at the bottom is the official GT-12 NASA/KSC rubber stamp cachet. This particular cover is one of 18,500 covers having the GT-12 official NASA/KSC rubber stamp applied by the KSC post office.

This is a printed design of the official NASA/KSC rubber stamp cachet used for Gemini-Titan 12. NASA/KSC official cachets began with the Gemini-Titan 5 launch and continued with the last one provided for ASTP in 1975 (and occasionally with a few others later).

Autographed by the GT-12 crew of Lovell and Aldrin, this cover was aboard the Prime Recovery Ship, USS Wasp, at the time of the recovery of the crew and capsule and was rubber stamp cacheted with a Morris Beck Atlantic Recovery Force cachet.