Episode 53: Project Gemini, Part V

With the passage of time, the details fade, and it can be easy to think that the early days of the space race were routine and ordinary. The truth is, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts put thier lives on the line for every space flight - and some training sessions, too. The truth is, astronatus today do the same thing. Neil Armstrong and David Scott, both space rookies, flew the Gemini 8 misison and did something no one had successfully done before - they docked with another object orbiting Earth. 27 minutes later, they nearly died. 

Elliot See and Charlie Bassett were tapped to fly Gemini 9, but a few weeks before Gemini 8 flew, they both died when poor visibility and pilot error caused their twin seat T-38 jet to crash on approach in St. Louis, Missiouri. There are a lot of quotes out there by astronatus who recognize the risks they take, while acknowledging that it is impossible to have progress without risk. Gus Grissom, the second American in space said, "If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us, it will not depay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." The prescience of that quote is unmistakable.  

Both See and Bassett were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Bassett in Section 4, Grave 195 and See in Section 4 Grave 208.

The Gemini 8 insignia was co-designed by both Armstrong and Scott. The text at the bottom had the zodiacal symbol for Gemini () and the Roman numeral for the number eight. The two stars Castor and Pollux, from the constellation Gemini and also included and are refracting light through a prisim casting a rainbow which represents the whole spectrum of light, symbolic of the whole spectrum of the planned Gemini 8 mission before it was unexpectedly cut about 65 hours short. 

Since 1959, NASA has inducted 23 classes of astronauts. Most classes since Group 8 (1978) have designed a group patch and I figured with all our talk of patches the last two espisodes, I should showcase those here

Gorup 8 (1978) - The TFNGs (or Thirty-Five New Guys)

Group 9 (1980) - 19+80

Group 10 (1984) - The Maggots

Group 11 (1985) - No Nickname

Group 12 (1987) - The GAFFers (George Abby Final Fifteen)

The Rejected Insignia for Group 13 - They wanted to use a black cat to play off the unlucky 13 supersticion.

The approved insignia for Group 13 (1990) - The Hairballs

Group 14 (1992) - The Hogs

Group 15 (1995) - Flying Escargot

Group 16 (1996) - The Sardines

Group 17 (1998) - The Penguins

Group 18 (2000) - The Bugs

Group 19 (2004) - The Peacocks

Group 20 (2009) - The Chumps

Group 21 (2013) - The 8 Balls

Group 22 (2017) - The Turtles

(Note: A nickname and pact for 2020's group 23 is still forthcoming)

Episode 52: Project Gemini, Part IV

 

When Gemini 6 flew within 1 inch (or 30 centimeters) of Gemini 7, it was the closest two vessels had ever been to each other in space. Pilot Wally Schirra said he was able to get so close thanks to the lack of turbulence in space. After getting into position, Schirra realized he had used much less fuel than he thought he would so he took the time to fly literally circles around his colleagues in the Gemini 7 capsule. The Rendezvous was also aired on live TV (I've posted a video of the rendezvous below - I start it at the time of the rendezvous but if you want to see the launch of Gemini 6A, back the viedo up to the beginning).

After the Rendezvous and splashdown, the recovery of the crew by the sailors on the USS Wasp was the first astronaut recovery shown on live TV (the video of the recovery also includes the splashdown. I've have it set to start with the recovery but if you want to see the splashdown, back it up to the beginning).

And now, for the promised Gemini mission patches

This was the first of two retroactivly designed mission patches after the Gemini 5 patch was designed. The Gemini 3 insignia consided of the Gamini 3 capsule after splashdown, awaiting recovery with the capsule name Molly Brown. The image and capsule name are surrounded by the name's of the two crew members.

This was the second of two retroactivly designed mission patches after the Gemini 5 patch was designed. The crew wanted to name their capsule American Eagle but NASA decided after Gus Grissom named his the Molly Brow, it was time they were no longer going to allow astronauts to name thier capsules. With that in mind, the Gemini 4 insignia is an eagle over the Gemini capsule, encircled by the Gemini 4 crew's names.

The first mission patch worn by a crew in space was Gemini 5's. It consisded of a conestoga wagon, due to the pioneering nature of the flight - staying in space for eight days - with the slogan 8 Days of Bust on the wagon cover. NASA managers objected to the slogan, fearing that if for any reason the mission had to be aborted before the eight day mark, the media and the public would condsider it a bust so a canvas was hand sewn on the patches the astronauts wore to cover the slogan, making it a true covered wagon.

Gemini 6's insignia used a hexangonal shape to reperesent the misison number and the spacecraft's trajectory also traces out the number 6. The spacecraft is shown superimposed on the twin stars Castor and Pollux from the constalletion Gemini. The second spacecraft on the patch represents Gemini 7, which Gemini 6 would rendezvous with.

The Gemini 7 misison insignia features an olympic torch to sympolize the marathon aspect of the 14-day mission. There is also a stylized Gemini capsule and a roman numeral 7. This is the first Gemini misison insignia to not feature its astronauts' names (though th enames were added to souvenir copies sold to the public. Gemini 9 and 10 would follow suit, but not 8.

Gemini 7's alternate crew also jokingly designed a patch, featuring an until torch, an offered a lighter, and the question, "Need a light - Frank? Jim?" 
    

Episode 51: Project Gemin, Part III

 

Astronaut Ed White was the first American to spacewalk as part of the Gemini IV misison June 3, 1965. This 20-minute jaunt outside the space capsule was the first time that still images were taken of a human operating in open space. White had so much fun during the walk that he had to be ordered to return to the capsule by misison commander James McDivitt and NASA Administrators (note the large US flag. This was the first time a national flag had been worn by space travelers)

Gemini IV was not NASA's first tandem mission, that honor went to Gemini III, with Command Pilot Gus Grissom and Pilot John Young.

The mission was Young's (left) first trip to space, while Grissom (right) became the first person to fly in space twice (though his initial trip was a suborbital ballistic flight), and paved the way for all NASA flights going forward, which would never contain just a single astronaut again.

Gemini III was important, but let's be honest, if you took the time to visit this site because you I said I put pictures (plural) of White's Gemini IV spacewalk, you want to see pictures (plural) of White's Gemini IV space walk. Here they are without further delay.

The space walk photographs, taken by astronaut James McDivitt, were seen around the would and graced many magazine covers, including Life which, as you may recall, had exclusivity agreements with NASA and the astronauts. 

Episode 50: Project Gemini, Part II

 

Have you ever heard of the Mercury 13, the group of 13 women who passed the same initial tests their male counterparts, the Mercury 7, took to become astronauts? Two of them even passed the second adn third phases of testing but because it was an unofficial test program and not authorized by NASA, the US Navy withdrew their support - and more importantly their equipment - for the tests. Jerrie Cobb (above) performed in the top 2 percentile of tests of astronauts of both genders. She was also already such a renounded pilot that when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, met Cobb, Tereshkova told the American that she was her hero and also that all the women Cosmonauts thought Cobb would be the first woman in space.

In 1995, a woman was assigned to pilot a space shuttle for the first time and the seven surviving members of the Mercury 13 (or as they sometimes called themselves, the FLATS [First Lady Astronaut Trainees]) were invited to Florida to see the historic launch. From left to right they are: Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Ratley, Myrtle Cagle, and Bernie Steadman).

Jerrie Cobb never made it to space, but Jerry Funk, the youngest of the Mercury 13 and the only other woman to get the chance to talk all three phases of the Mercury astronaut candiates test get make it to space. In 2021, she flew on the the first Blue Origin commerical space flight. t 82-years-old, she set the record for the oldest person to go to space, passing the mark set by (spoiler!) 77-year-old John Glenn during his shuttle mission. Her record was broken later that year by 90-year-old William Shattner.

In the mid-1960s, the American space program was preparing the launch the first multi-crew capsule into space, the two person Gemini capsule. When the Soviets caught wind of this the decided to beat them to the punch by engineering a way to cram three cosmonauts inside a modified Vostok capsule called Voshkod 1. This is often considered the riskiest space mission because the spaceship was so cramped, the crew flew in track suits instead of pressurized space suits. They survived though and the Soviets achieved another record first for thier space program.

The Soviets also launched Voshkod 2 while the Americans were still testing Gemini capsules. This second Voshkod mission saw the first spacewalk by a human and answered the quiestion once and for all if humans, with the proper equipment, could work in open space. The spacewalk was televised live for the entire world to see... at least until things got a little hairry and the live transmission was cut off. 

(CCCP Spacewalk still courtesy of https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9035/index.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46303679)

Episode 49: Project Mercury, Part VII and Project Gemini, Part I

 After being told that he would never fly in space again, Mercury Seven astronaut Scott Carpenter left NASA and the US Navy SEALAB program which was testing the effect of living in capsules at the bottom of the ocean for extended periods of time on humans. Carptenter (center) served abord SEALAB II.

Those selected for the SEALAB program were given the title aquanaut. Carpent is the only person in US history... and possibly world history (though I will admit that I was lazy and didn't specifically look that fact up) to become both an astronaut and an aquanaut.

Carpenter retired from the Navy on July 1, 1969, three weeks before the first NASA astronauts would land on the moon. In later life, Carpenter would work as a engeneering consultant, wasp breeder (to which I can only ask WHY? Why breed wasps when you could keep bees?!), and a novelist. When he passed away in 2013, at age 88, he was the second-to-last surviving Mercury Seven astronaut. Ironically, this left John Glenn, the oldest of the Mercury Seven at the time of their selection, as the last remianing. Glenn attended Carpenter's public memorial serive in Colorado.

I was unable to find a photograph of Carpenter's headstone - he was interred at the family's private cemetery at their ranch in Steamboat Springs, CO - so I will have to suffice with the above photo on his flag-draped coffin at his public memorial service.

I had to share this final image becasue I am absolutly captivated by the excitment and eagerness in Carpenter's eyes as he suits up prior to going into space aboard Aurora 7.

I can't introduce the Next Nine without including a picture here so here is a NASA publicity photo of the Mercury Seven (seated left to right: Gordo Cooper, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton) and the Next Nine (standing left to right: Ed White, James McDivitt, John Young, Elliot See, Charles Conrad, Frank Borman, Neil Armstrong, Thomas Stafford, and Jim Lovell). We'll get to know these guy more in coming podcasts.

Episode 48: Project Mercury, Part VI

 

John Glenn (left) and Scott Carpenter (right) were the primary and alternate pilots for the United States' first orbital flight. I can only imagine what Carpenter was thinking when he got the word NASA was concerned that Glenn's heat shield wouldn't stay on during re-entry and if that happened, his friend burn up on re-entry.

He later admitted that he was a little worried re-entering the atmosphere but also knew that if he did lost the heat shield, it would all be over quickly. After his successful re-entry and recovery by the USS Noa, Glenn was cool, calm, and collected, at least on the outside. Rocking those classic Chuck Taylor's, he was certainly cool!

After his safe return, Glenn was awarded a medal by JFK, address a joint session of congress following a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, and received a ticker tape parade in New York City. Of all his accolades, it seemed the one he found most unbelieveable was when his hometown named the college gym in his honor.

John Glenn wasn't Friendship 7's only trailblazer. After her great job with the insignia artowrk, Cecelia Bibby was brought back to design and paint the misison logos one each subsequient capsule - including two missions that were never flown.

More three more Mercury flights followed Glenn's but by this time NASA was already looking to the future and Project Gemini which would do even more to get astronauts ready for the real prize - the Apollo mission that hopefully take humans from earth to the moon and safely back again.