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Author
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Topic: Help with Gemini spacecraft identification
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Go4Launch
Member Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 02-27-2016 03:28 PM
   
On Nov. 16, 1963, President Kennedy was shown a Gemini of some type at Complex 37 (please see photos below). Can anyone help identify or provide more information about this particular "spacecraft?" I suspect it may be one of several static test articles McDonnell provided, since it looks a little more "built out" than the steel-shell type craft that seems more common with boilerplates (I don't think, however, it is static article No. 5, which seems to have stayed at the Manned Spacecraft Center for tests in Galveston Bay). Thanks for any help.  
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NukeGuy
Member Posts: 55
From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014
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posted 02-27-2016 06:00 PM
Is that George Low with Gus Grissom? |
space1
Member Posts: 861
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 02-27-2016 06:11 PM
I think this is more than a static vehicle. The reentry module exterior is thoroughly fitted out with flight rated equipment. For example, the hatch is quite complete. The rendezvous and recovery section is a very early version with only one drogue parachute. I don't know which vehicles may have had this version. I am guessing this is either Gemini 1, or a Gemini checkout vehicle. If I'm not mistaken the Gemini checkout vehicle (I don't recall its correct name) is now at the Cosmosphere. |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 02-27-2016 08:59 PM
quote:
Originally posted by NukeGuy:
Is that George Low with Gus Grissom?
Yes it is George Low. Gemini 1 did arrive on October 4, and its instrument pallets were removed on October 9 and reinstalled November 26. |
NukeGuy
Member Posts: 55
From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014
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posted 02-28-2016 08:27 PM
After leaving NASA, George Low became the president of the university where I studied engineering. He (or an autograph machine) signed my diploma. I would remember seeing him in the student union having a cup of coffee and reading the paper. Very quiet and unassuming.He passed on a few years after I graduated. None of the presidents who followed were fit to even be in his shadow. |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 03-01-2016 08:43 AM
I like the "only one drogue parachute" clue. All of the Gemini Familiarization Manuals I can find online, however, are the later versions -- and I'm not sure if the first versions would offer any information about s/c No. 1. I'd welcome any quick research by anyone who might have access to that manual. |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 03-01-2016 12:37 PM
I have now confirmed this is Gemini 1. Thanks to space1 for the suggestion. |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1220
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 03-01-2016 09:46 PM
Did this Gemini end up flying with an all white adapter, or did it get the black tape stripes applied? |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 03-04-2016 03:19 PM
The black tape was applied just a few days before launch. I have to agree this is spacecraft no. 1. |
taneal1
Member Posts: 237
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 04-26-2017 12:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Go4Launch:
I like the "only one drogue parachute" clue.
To add a little detail and background info:Early in the Gemini program it was believed that the RCS would "handle" stabilization until the main chute was deployed. For whatever reason(s), a separate drogue was added. The Gemini 2 spacecraft also flew without the drogue. The "Changes" document for Gemini 3 states that the first (Gemini) drogue chute was flown on Gemini 3.
What is shown in the photo is actually the container for the pilot parachute which pulls the main parachute from its deployment bag. A line drawing of the Gemini 1 spacecraft depicts a single container in a position identical to the one in this photo. As decided above this has to be Gemini 1. |
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