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Gemini 10

Gemini 10

Gemini 10 (officially Gemini X) was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 8th manned Gemini flight, the 16th manned American flight and the 24th spaceflight of all time (includes X-15 flights over 100 km).

Crew

- John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9), Command Pilot
- Michael Collins (flew on Gemini 10 & Apollo 11), Pilot

Backup crew

- Alan L. Bean, Command Pilot
- Clifton C. Williams, Jr., Pilot

Mission parameters

- Mass: 3,762.6 kg
- Perigee: 159.9 km
- Apogee: 268.9 km
- Inclination: 28.87°
- Period: 88.79 min

Docking

- Docked: July 19, 1966 - 04:15:00 UTC
- Undocked: July 20, 1966 - 19:00:00 UTC

Space walk

- Collins - EVA 1 (stand up)
- Start: July 19, 1966, 21:44:00 UTC
- End: July 19, 1966, 22:33:00 UTC
- Duration: 0 hours, 49 minutes
- Collins - EVA 2
- Start: July 20, 1966, 23:01:00 UTC
- End: July 20, 1966, 23:40:00 UTC
- Duration: 0 hours, 39 minutes

Objectives

Gemini established that radiation at high attitude was not a problem. After docking with their Agena booster in low orbit, Young and Collins used it to climb another 763.8 kilometers to meet with the dead, drifting Agena left over from the aborted Gemini VIII flight-thus executing the program's first double rendezvous. With no electricity on board the second Agena the rendezvous was accomplished with eyes only-no radar. After the rendezvous, Collins space-walked over to the dormant Agena at the end of a 15.24 meter tether, making Collins the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit. He retrieved a cosmic dustcollecting panel from the side of the Agena, but returned no pictures of his close encounter — in the complicated business of keeping his tether clear of the Gemini and Agena, Collins' Hasselblad camera worked itself free and drifted off into orbit. Gemini 10 was designed to achieve the objectives planned for the last two missions — rendezvous, docking and EVA. As well as this it was also hoped to dock with the Agena Target Vehicle from the Gemini 8 mission. This Agena's battery power had failed many months earlier and this would demonstrate the ability to rendezvous with a dormant object. It would be also the first mission to fire the Agena's own rocket, allowing them to reach higher orbits.

Flight

The Agena launched perfectly for the second time, after problems had occurred with the targets for Gemini 6 and 9. Gemini 10 followed 100 minutes later and entered into a 159.9 x 268.9 km orbit. They were 1800 km behind the Agena.
Agena Target Vehicle

Rendezvous number 1

Collins discovered that he was unable to use the sextant for navigation as it did not seem to work as expected. At first he mistook airglow as the real horizon when trying to make some fixes on stars. Then the image didn't seem right. He tried another instrument that they had on board but this was not practical to use at it had a very small field of view. They fortunately had a backup in the form of the computers on the ground. They made their first burn to put them into a 265 by 272 kilometres orbit. However Young didn't realise that during the next burn he had the spacecraft turned slightly which meant that they introduced an out of plane error. This meant two extra burns using 60% of the fuel on board by the time they docked with the Agena. It was decided to keep the Gemini docked to the Agena as long as possible as this would mean that they could use the fuel on board the Target Vehicle for attitude control. They made the first burn of the Agena engine was 80 seconds long and put them in a 294 by 763 kilometres orbit. This was the highest a person had ever been (until the next mission when Gemini 11 went to over 1000 km). This burn was quite a ride for the crew. Because the Gemini and Agena docked nose to nose, the forces experienced were eyeballs out as opposed to eyeballs in for a launch from Earth. The crew took a couple of pictures when they reached apogee but were more interested in what was going on in the spacecraft — checking the systems and watching the radiation dosage meter. After this they had their sleep period which lasted for eight hours and then they were ready for another busy day. First order of business was to make a second burn with the Agena engine to put them into the same orbit as the Gemini 8 Agena. This was at 20:58 UTC on 19 July and lasted 78 seconds and took 105 metres per second of their speed, putting them into a 294 by 382 km orbit. They made one more burn of the Agena to circularise their orbit to 377.6 km.

EVA number 1

It was now time for the first of two EVAs on Gemini 10. This was to be just a standup EVA, where Collins would 'stand' in the open hatch and take some photographs of stars as part of experiment S-13. They used a 70 mm general purpose camera to image the Southern Milky Way in ultraviolet. After orbit sunrise, Collins then photographed a colour plate on the side of the spacecraft (MSC-8) to see whether film reproduced colours accurately in space. They reentered the spacecraft six minutes early when they both found their eyes were irritated. After repressurising they ran the oxygen at high rates and flushed the environment system. Young and Collins were both tired after the exercise of the EVA and slept well on their second 'night' in space. The next 'morning' they started preparing for the second rendezvous and another EVA.

Rendezvous number 2

After undocking from their Agena they thought they sighted the Gemini 8 Agena. It however turned out to be their own Agena 5.5 km away, while their target was 176 km away. It wasn't until just over 30 km away that they saw it as a faint star. After a couple more correction burns they were station keeping 3 metres away. They found the Agena to be very stable and in good condition.

EVA number 2

48 hours and 41 minutes into the mission, the second EVA began. Collins first task was to retrieve a Micrometeorite Collector (S-12) from the side of the spacecraft. This he accomplished with some difficulty (like those experienced by Cernan on Gemini IX-A). However it floated out of the cabin some time during the rest of the EVA and was lost. He next travelled over to the Agena. He tried to grab onto the docking cone but found this impossible as it was smooth and had no grip. He used the gas gun to move himself towards the Gemini and then back to the Agena. This time he was able to grab hold of some wire bundles and retrieved the Micrometeorite Collector (S-10) from the Agena. He decided against replacing it as he could lose the one he had just retrieved. He last task on this EVA was to test out the gas gun. However this stopped working and meant they finished the EVA after only 25 minutes. It took the crew eight minutes to close the hatch as they had some difficulty with the 15 metres of umbilical cord. It was jettisoned along with the chestpack used by Collins an hour later when they opened the hatch for the third and final time.

Experiments

There were 10 other experiments that the crew performed during the mission. Three were interested in radiation. MSC-3 was the Tri-Axis Magnetometer which measured levels in the South Atlantic Anomaly. There was also MSC-6, a beta spectrometer, measured potential radiation doses for Apollo missions, and MSC-7, a bremsstrahlung spectrometer which detected radiation flux as a function of energy when the spacecraft passed through the South Atlantic Anomaly. S-26 was interested in the ion and electron wake of the spacecraft. This provided limited results due to the lack of fuel for attitude control, but found that electron and ion temperatures higher than expected and it registered shock effects during docking and undocking. Once again S-5 and S-6 were performed. These were Synoptic Terrain and Synoptic Weather photography respectively. Both had good results though were affected by the windows on the spacecraft being dirty. There was also S-1 which was intended to image the Zodiacal light. These were of little use as the film used was only half as sensitive as Gemini IX-A and the dirty windows lowered the transmission of light by a factor of six. They also tried to do D-5, a navigation experiment. They were only able to track 5 stars, with six needed for accurate measurements. The last experiment was D-10 to investigate an Ion-sensing Attitude Control system. This was to see if it was possible to find the attitude of the spacecraft from the flow of ions and electrons around the spacecraft in orbit. This system was found to be accurate and responsive.

Reentry

Zodiacal light The last day of the mission was short and retrofire came at 70 hours and 10 minutes into the mission. They landed only 5.6 km away from the intended landing site and were recovered by the USS Guadalcanal. The Gemini 10 mission was supported by the following U.S. Department of Defense resources; 9,067 personnel, 78 aircraft and 13 ships.

Insignia

The patch is simple in design but highly symbolic. The main feature in a large X with two stars orbiting around it. This represents the Agenas but could also show Castor and Pollux in Gemini or the two crew members.

Capsule location

The capsule is on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas. When the restoration of the Gemini 6A capsule is completed, then Gemini 10 will be restored in full view of the public. At the end of this restoration it will be put back on full display at the Cosmosphere. One of the hatches is displayed at Virginia Air and Space Center, Hampton, Virginia.

External links

- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750067644_1975067644.pdf Gemini 10 Mission Report (PDF) August 1966]
- On The Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/cover.htm
- Spaceflight Mission Patches: http://www.genedorr.com/patches/Intro.html
- http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-066A
- U.S. Space Objects Registry http://usspaceobjectsregistry.state.gov/search/index.cfm Category:Human spaceflights Category:Gemini program

Manned spaceflight

Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew and possibly passengers, which is in contrast to robotic space probes or remotely-controlled unmanned space missions. On occasion, passengers of other species have ridden aboard spacecraft, although not all survived the return to earth. Dogs, not humans, were the first large mammals launched from Earth. The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961; Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around the earth. Perhaps the highest of Earth orbits was Gemini 11 in 1966, which reached a height of 1374 km. The Space Shuttle on the missions to launch and service the Hubble Space Telescope has also reached high earth orbit at an altitude of around 600 km. The destination of human spaceflight missions beyond Earth orbit has only been the Moon. On the first such mission, Apollo 8, the crew orbited the Moon. Apollo 10 was the next mission, and it tested the lunar landing craft in lunar orbit without actually landing. The six missions that landed were Apollo 11-17, excluding Apollo 13. On each mission, two of the three astronauts involved landed on the moon; thus, in the late 1960s and early 1970s NASA's Apollo program landed twelve men on the Moon--returning them all to Earth. As of 2005 piloted space missions have been carried out by Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the United States. Missions carried out by the United States are both governmental (NASA) and civilian (Scaled Composites, a California-based company). Canada, Europe, India, and Japan also have active space programs. The Indian Parliament recently sanctioned funds to the Indian Space Research Organization for a human spaceflight by 2008 (although the programme has now been scaled down to start with an unmanned orbiting satellite for surveying--see Chandrayan). Japan has announced a program to place a person on the moon by 2025. Currently the following spacecrafts and spaceports are used:
- International Space Station (includes Soyuz TMA as an emergency lander; normal crew transport with the following two spacecraft)
- Soyuz TMA with Soyuz launch vehicle - Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Space Shuttle - John F. Kennedy Space Center
- Shenzhou spacecraft with Long March rocket - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne with Scaled Composites White Knight (the latter does not enter space itself) - Mojave Spaceport In an attempt to win the $10 million X-Prize, numerous private companies attempted to build their own manned spacecraft capable of repeated sub-orbital flights. The first private spaceflight took place on June 21 2004, when SpaceShipOne conducted a sub-orbital flight. With its second flight within one week, SpaceShipOne captured the prize on October 4, 2004. NASA uses the term "human spaceflight" to refer to its programme of launching people into space. Traditionally, these endeavours have been referred to as "manned space missions". The term "manned" is accurate in terms of gender when speaking of all U.S. spaceflight programs before the Space Shuttle program and Soviet spaceflights before Vostok 6. Although it only denotes gender in one of several definitions of the word, the term "manned" is considered sexist by some, and they may prefer to use the term "crewed"' or "piloted space missions."

External links

- [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ NASA Human Space Flight]
- [http://www.thespacereview.com/article/352/1 The top three reasons for humans in space]
- [http://www.chrisvalentines.com/sts107/videoessay.html 20 Minute Video Essay on Human Space Exploration] Category:Human spaceflight

Gemini program

Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program in which the United States of America sent humans into space, between Projects Mercury and Apollo, during the years 1963-1966. Its objective was to develop techniques for advanced space travel, notably those necessary for Apollo, whose objective was to land men on the Moon. Gemini missions involved extravehicular activity and orbital maneuvers including rendezvous and docking. Gemini was originally seen as a simple extrapolation of the Mercury program, and thus early on was called Mercury Mark II. The final program had little in common with Mercury and was in fact superior to even Apollo in some ways. (See Big Gemini.) This was mainly a result of its late start date, which allowed it to benefit from much that had been learned by that time on the Apollo project (which, despite its later launch dates, was actually begun before Gemini). Its primary difference from Mercury was that the earlier spacecraft had all systems other than the reentry rockets sited within the capsule, nearly all of which had to be accessed through the astronaut's hatchway, while Gemini had many power, propulsion, and life-support systems in a detachable module like a huge bowl; many components in the capsule itself were reachable each through its own small access door. The original intention was for Gemini to use a paraglider instead of a parachute, and the crew to be seated upright controlling the forward motion of the craft before its landing. To facilitate this, the parachute cord does not just attach to the nose of the craft; there is an additional attachment point for balance near the heat shield. This cord is covered by a strip of metal between the doors. Early, short-duration missions had their electrical power supplied by batteries; later endurance missions had the first fuel cells in manned spacecraft. The "Gemini" designation comes from the fact that each spacecraft held two men, as "gemini" in Latin means "twins". Gemini is also the name of the third constellation of the Zodiac and its twin stars, Castor and Pollux. Unlike Mercury, which could only change its orientation in space, the Gemini capsule could alter its own orbit. It could also dock with other spacecraft--one of which, the Agena Target Vehicle, had its own large rocket engine which was used to perform large orbital changes. Gemini was the first American manned spacecraft to include an onboard computer, the Gemini Guidance Computer, to facilitate management and control of mission maneuvers. The main contractor was McDonnell who had lost out on main contracts for the Apollo Project. McDonnell sought to extend the program by proposing a Gemini craft could be used to fly a cislunar mission and even achieve a manned lunar landing earlier and at less cost than Apollo but these were rejected. The Gemini program cost $5.4 billion in 1994 dollars. See NASA Budget.

Announcement

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA announced December 7, 1961, a plan to extend the existing manned space flight program by development of a two-man spacecraft. The program was officially designated Gemini on January 3, 1962.

Team

The Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C, Dr. George E. Mueller, Associate Administrator of NASA for Manned Space Flight, served as acting director of the Gemini program. William C. Schneider, Deputy Director of Manned Space Flight for Mission Operations, served as Mission Director on all Gemini flights beginning with Gemini V. The Manned Spacecraft Center Gemini effort was headed by Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, director of the Center, and Charles W. Matthews, Gemini Program Manager.

Program objectives

The Gemini Program was conceived after it became evident to NASA officials that an intermediate step was required between the projects Mercury and Apollo. The major objectives assigned to Gemini were:
- To subject two men and supporting equipment to long-duration flights, a requirement for projected later trips to the moon or deeper space.
- To effect rendezvous and docking with other orbiting vehicles, and to maneuver the docked vehicles in space, using the propulsion system of the target vehicle for such maneuvers.
- To perfect methods of reentry and landing the spacecraft at a pre-selected land-landing point.
- To gain additional information concerning the effects of weightlessness on crew members and to record the physiological reactions of crew members during long duration flights.

Gemini Applications

The United States Air Force had an interest in the system, and decided to use their own modification of the spacecraft as the crew vehicle for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. To this end, one of the unmanned Gemini spacecraft was refurbished and flown again atop a mockup of the MOL, sent into space by a Titan III-M. This was the first time a spacecraft went into space twice. The USAF also had the notion of adapting the Gemini spacecraft for trying out military applications, such as crude observation of the ground (no specialized reconnaissance camera could be carried) and practicing making rendezvous with suspicious satellites. This project was called Blue Gemini. The US Air Force did not like the fact that Gemini would have to be recovered by the US Navy, so they intended for Blue Gemini eventually to use the paraglider and land on three skids, something from the original design of Gemini. At first some within NASA welcomed sharing of the cost with the USAF, but it was later agreed that NASA was better off operating Project Gemini by itself. MOL was cancelled in 1968 and Blue Gemini too was cancelled without any use by military astronauts.

Missions

1968 and Thomas Stafford aboard]] Gemini involved 12 flights, including two unmanned flight tests of the equipment.

Unmanned

- Gemini 1 - First test flight of Gemini; April 8-12, 1964
- Gemini 2 - Suborbital flight to test heat shield; January 19, 1965

Manned

- Gemini III , MOLLY BROWN March 23, 1965 Virgil "Gus" Grissom, John W. Young 04 hours, 52 minutes 31 seconds First manned Gemini flight, three orbits. The only major incident during the mission involved a contraband corned beef sandwich that Young had snuck on board. The crew each took a few bites before the sandwich had to be restowed. The crumbs it released could have wreaked havoc with the craft's electronics, so the crew were reprimanded when they returned to Earth. The capsule's name, 'Molly Brown', was a reference to the musical "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", and was allegedly chosen by Grissom in honour of his Mercury capsule ("Liberty Bell 7"), which did sink. Following this, Nasa banned crews from naming their vehicles until relatively late in the Apollo program, and even then only with supervision.
- Gemini IV June 03-07, 1965 James A. McDivitt, Edward H. White II 4 days 1 hour 56 min 12 seconds Included first extravehicular activity (EVA) by an American; White's "space walk" was a 22 minute EVA exercise.
- Gemini V August 21-29, 1965 L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Charles Conrad Jr. 7 days 22 hours 55 min 14 seconds First week-long flight First use of fuel cells for electrical power; evaluated guidance and navigation system for future rendezvous missions. Completed 120 orbits.
- Gemini VII December 04-18, 1965 Frank Borman, James A. Lovell Jr. 13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes 1 seconds When the original Gemini VI mission was scrubbed because its Agena target for rendezvous and docking failed, Gemini VII was used for the rendezvous instead. Primary objective was to determine whether humans could live in space for 14 days.
- Gemini VI-A December 15-16, 1965 Walter M. Schirra Jr., Thomas P. Stafford 1 Day 1 hour 51 min 24 seconds First space rendezvous accomplished with Gemini VII, station-keeping for over five hours at distances from 0.3 to 90 m (1 to 295 ft).
- Gemini VIII March 16, 1966 Neil A. Armstrong, David R. Scott 10 hours, 41 minutes 26 seconds Accomplished first docking with another space vehicle, an unmanned Agena stage. A malfunction caused uncontrollable spinning of the craft; the crew undocked and effected the first emergency landing of a manned U.S. space mission.
- Gemini IX June 03-06, 1966 Thomas P. Stafford, Eugene A. Cernan 3 days, 21 hours Rescheduled from May to rendezvous and dock with augmented target docking adapter (ATDA) after original Agena target vehicle failed to orbit. ATDA shroud did not completely separate, making docking impossible. Three different types of rendezvous, two hours of EVA, and 44 orbits were completed.
- Gemini X July 18-21, 1966 John W. Young, Michael Collins 2 days 22 hours 46 min 39 seconds First use of Agena target vehicle's propulsion systems. Spacecraft also rendezvoused with Gemini VIII target vehicle. Collins had 49 minutes of EVA standing in the hatch and 39 minutes of EVA to retrieve experiment from Agena stage. 43 orbits completed.
- Gemini XI September 12-15, 1966 Charles Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr. 2 days 23 hours 17 min 8 seconds Gemini record altitude, 1,189.3 km (739.2 mi) reached using Agena propulsion system after first orbit rendezvous and docking. Gordon made 33-minute EVA and two-hour standup EVA. 44 orbits.
- Gemini XII November 11-15, 1966 James A. Lovell Jr., Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin 3 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes 31 seconds Final Gemini flight. Rendezvoused and docked manually with its target Agena and kept station with it during EVA. Aldrin set an EVA record of 5 hours, 30 minutes for one space walk and two stand-up exercises.

Crew Selection

Deke Slayton as head of the Astronaut Office had the main role in choice of crews for the Gemini program. This selection process, with the prospect of more ambitious missions that would follow with Apollo, became even more political that with the Mercury Program. With Gemini it became a procedure that each flight had a prime crew and back up crew and that the back up crew would rotate to prime crew status three flights later. Slayton also sought that first choice of mission Commands would be given to the original Mercury Seven astronauts (excepting John Glenn who retired from NASA in January 1964, Scott Carpenter who was not acceptable to NASA management, and Gordon Cooper was questionable). In late 1963, Slayton choose Alan Shepard and Thomas Stafford for Gemini 3, James McDivitt and Ed White for Gemini 4, and Wally Schirra and John Young for Gemini 5 (the first Agena rendezvous mission). Gemini 3 was backed up by Gus Grissom and Frank Borman who were also slated for Gemini 6 the first long duration mission. Finally Pete Conrad and James Lovell were assigned as the backup for Gemini 4 Delays in the production of the Agena Target Vehicle caused the first rearrangement of the crew rotation. Schirra and Young mission was bumped to Gemini-6 and now were the backup for Shepard and Stafford. Grissom and Borman now had their long duration mission assigned to Gemini 5. The second rearrangment occurred when Alan Shepard developed Meniere's disease, an inner ear problem. Gus Grissom was moved to command Gemini 3. Slayton felt that Young was a better personality match and switched Stafford and Young. Finally Slayton tapped Gordon Cooper to command the long duration Gemini 5. Again for reasons of compatibility he move Pete Conrad from being the backup commander of Gemini 4 to the pilot of Gemini 5 and Frank Borman to the backup command of Gemini 4. Finally he assign Neil Armstrong and Elliot See to be the backup crew for Gemini 5. The third rearrangement of crew assignment occurred when Deke Slayton felt that Elliot See wasn't up to the physical demands of EVA on Gemini 8. He placed Elliot See as the prime commander of Gemini 9 and put Dave Scott as pilot of Gemini 8 and Charles Bassett as the pilot of Gemini 9. The fourth and final rearrangement of the Gemini crew assignment occurred after the death of Elliot See and Charles Bassett in a plane death in St. Louis. The backup crew of Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan was moved up to become the new prime crew of Gemini 9. James Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was moved from being the backup crew of Gemini 10 to the backup crew of Gemini 9. This cleared the way through the crew rotation for Lovel and Aldrin to become the prime crew of Gemini 12. Along with the death of Grissom, White, and Chaffee in the fire of Apollo 1, this rearrangement is what finally determined the makeup of the early Apollo crews. These events were decisive in determining who would be in position to walk on the moon. In his autobiography "Deke!" Slayton relates that he would have probably replaced Aldrin with the backup pilot for Gemini 12 Eugene Cernan if the second flight of the AMU had flow on Gemini 12.

Gemini-Titan launches and serial numbers

Gemini 4 The Gemini-Titan launch vehicles, like the Mercury-Atlas vehicles before them, were ordered by NASA through the U. S. Air Force and were in reality missiles. The Gemini-Titan II rockets were assigned U.S. Air Force serial numbers, which were painted in four places on each Titan II (on opposite sides on each of the first and second stages). U.S. Air Force crews maintained Launch Complex 19 and prepared and launched all of the Gemini-Titan II launch vehicles. Atlas These are the USAF serial numbers assigned to the Gemini-Titan launch vehicles. They were ordered in 1962 so the serial is "62-12XXX", but only "12XXX" is painted on the Titan II:
- 12556 - GLV-1 - Gemini 1
- 12557 - GLV-2 - Gemini 2
- 12558 - GLV-3 - Gemini 3
- 12559 - GLV-4 - Gemini 4
- 12560 - GLV-5 - Gemini 5
- 12561 - GLV-6 - Gemini 6A
- 12562 - GLV-7 - Gemini 7
- 12563 - GLV-8 - Gemini 8
- 12564 - GLV-9 - Gemini 9A
- 12565 - GLV-10 - Gemini 10
- 12566 - GLV-11 - Gemini 11
- 12567 - GLV-12 - Gemini 12
- 12568 - GLV-13 Ordered by NASA 1962, not built, cancelled July 30, 1964
- 12569 - GLV-14 Ordered by NASA 1962, not built, cancelled July 30, 1964
- 12570 - GLV-15 Ordered by NASA 1962, not built, cancelled July 30, 1964

External links:

- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/toc.htm On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini by Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood]
- [http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/gemini/gemini.htm John F. Kennedy Space Center - The Gemini Program]
- [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/gemini/gemini.html NASA Project Gemini site]
- [http://www.thespaceplace.com/history/gemini2.html Space history: Gemini Program space history - Gemini missions spaceflight]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/diagrams/gemini.html Project Gemini Drawings and Technical Diagrams]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/diagrams/diagrams.htm Technical Diagrams and Drawings]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/mscorbit/document.html Gemini familiarization Manuals (PDF).] Apollo Category:Gemini program Category:Human spaceflight programmes Category:Manned spacecraft ja:ジェミニ計画

Project Gemini

Announcement

Team

Program objectives

Gemini Applications

Missions

1968 and Thomas Stafford aboard]] Gemini involved 12 flights, including two unmanned flight tests of the equipment.

Unmanned

- Gemini 1 - First test flight of Gemini; April 8-12, 1964
- Gemini 2 - Suborbital flight to test heat shield; January 19, 1965

Manned

Crew Selection

Gemini-Titan launches and serial numbers

External links:

X-15

The North American X-15 rocket plane was perhaps the most important of the USAF/USN X-series of experimental aircraft. Although not as famous as the Bell X-1, the X-15 set numerous speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of space and bringing back valuable data that was used in the design of later aircraft and spacecraft. During the X-15 program, 13 flights met the US criterion for a spaceflight by passing an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) and the pilots were accordingly awarded astronaut status by the USAF. Out of these, 2 also qualified for the international FAI definition of a spaceflight by passing the 62.1 miles (100 km) mark.

History

FAI The original Request for Proposals was issued for the airframe December 30, 1954, and for the rocket engine on February 4, 1955. North American received the airframe contract in November 1955, and Reaction Motors contracted in 1956 to build the engines. As with many of the X-aircraft, the X-15 was designed to be carried aloft under the wing of a B-52. The fuselage was long and cylindrical, with fairings towards the rear giving it a flattened look, and it had thick wedge-shaped dorsal and ventral fins. The retractable landing gear consisted of a nose wheel and two skids — to provide sufficient clearance part of the ventral fin had to be jettisoned before landing. The two XLR-11 rocket engines of the initial model X-15A delivered 36 kN (8,000 lbf) of thrust; the "real" engine that came later was a single XLR-99 that delivered 254 kN (57,000 lbf) at sea level, and 311 kN (70,000 lbf) at peak altitude. The first flight was an unpowered test made by Scott Crossfield on June 8, 1959 (making him the first man to go supersonic in a glider), who followed up with the first powered flight on September 17. The first flight with the XLR-99 was on 15 November 1960. Three X-15s were built in all, and they made a total of 199 test flights, the last one on October 24, 1968. Plans were made for a 200th X-15 flight to be launched over Smith Ranch, Nevada. It was scheduled for November 21, 1968 with William J. Knight as the pilot. Various technical and weather delays caused the planned launch to slip at least six times until late December, 1968. Finally after a cancellation on December 20, 1968 due to weather, it was decided there would not be a 200th flight. The X-15 ground crew de-mated the aircraft from the NB-52A, and prepared it for indefinite storage. X-15 #1 was sent to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. X-15 #2 is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. X-15 #3, 56-6672, was destroyed in a crash on November 15, 1967. Twelve test pilots flew the plane, including Neil Armstrong, later the first man on the Moon and Joe Engle who went on to command Space Shuttle missions. In July and August, 1963, pilot Joe Walker crossed the 100 km altitude mark twice, becoming the first person to enter space twice. Test pilot Michael J. Adams was killed on November 15, 1967 when his X-15-3 began to spin on descent and then disintegrated when the acceleration reached 15 g (147 m/s²), scattering wreckage over 50 square miles. On June 8, 2004 a memorial monument was erected at the location of cockpit [http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/X-15A_crash_site.htm crash site] near Randsburg, California. Michael Adams was posthumously awarded astronaut wings for his last flight in the X-15-3, which had attained an altitude of 266,000 feet (81.1 Km). In 1991 Adams' name was added to the Astronaut Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The second X-15A was rebuilt after a landing accident. It was lengthened by about 0.74 m (2.4 ft), received a pair of auxiliary fuel tanks slung under the fuselage, and was given a heat-resistant surface treatment, the result being called the X-15A-2. It first flew June 28, 1964, and eventually reached a speed of 7,274 km/h (4,520 mi/h or 2,021 m/s). The altitudes attained by the X-15 remained unsurpassed by any piloted aircraft except the Space Shuttle until the 3rd spaceflight of SpaceShipOne in 2004. The speeds and altitudes have, also, frequently been exceeded by unpiloted air-launched rockets, such as the Pegasus rocket which has carried several satellites all the way into orbit. The widely reported record achieved by the diminutive X-43A scramjet testbed on November 16, 2004 of nearly Mach 10 (10,621 km/h or 2.95 km/s) at 95,000 ft (29 km) is only a record for an air-breathing jet engine.

Specifications (X-15)

jet engine

General characteristics

- Crew: 1
- Length: 50.7 ft (15.45 m)
- Wingspan: 22.3 ft (6.8 m)
- Height: 13.5 ft (4.12 m)
- Wing area: 200 ft² (18.58 m²)
- Empty: 14,600 lb (6,623 kg)
- Loaded: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg)
- Maximum takeoff: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg)
- Powerplant: 1x Thiokol XLR99-RM-2 liquid-fuel rocket engine, 70,400 lbf (313 kN) thrust (at 30 km)

Performance

- Maximum speed: 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h) Mach 6.72
- Range: 280 miles (450 km)
- Service ceiling: 67 miles (108 km)
- Rate of climb: 60,000 ft/min (18,000 m/min)
- Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
- Thrust/weight:
- Serial Numbers: (Five main aircraft were involved in the X-15 program. The three X-15's and two B-52 carrier aircraft.)
- X-15A-1 - 56-6670, 82 powered flights
- X-15A-2 - 56-6671, 53 powered flights
- X-15A-3 - 56-6672, 64 powered flights
- NB-52A - 52-003 (retired October 1969)
- NB-52B - 52-008 (retired November 2004)

Record flights

Highest flights

In the United States there are two definitions of how high a person must go to be referred to as an astronaut. The USAF decided to award astronaut wings to anyone who achieved a altitude of 50 miles (80 km) or more. However the FAI set the limit of space at 100 km. Thirteen X-15 flights went higher than 50 miles (80 km) and two of these reached over 100 km.

Fastest flights

X-15 Pilots

References

- Robert Godwin, ed., X-15 (The NASA Mission Reports), (Apogee Books, 2001) ISBN 1896522653
- Milton O. Thompson and Neil Armstrong, At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992) ISBN 1560981075
- Richard Tregaskis, X-15 Diary: The Story of America's First Space Ship (iUniverse.com, 2000) ISBN 0595002501
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20000068530_2000075022.pdf Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane - NASA report (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650010561_1965010561.pdf X-15 research results with a selected bibliography - NASA report (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19920075739_1992075739.pdf Flight experience with shock impingement and interference heating on the X-15-2 research airplane 1968 - NASA (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19680016245_1968016245.pdf Thermal protection system X-15A-2 Design report 1968 - NASA report (PDF format)]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/monograph31.pdf American X-Vehicles: An Inventory X-1 to X-50, SP-2000-4531 - June 2003; NASA online PDF Monograph]

External links

- [http://history.nasa.gov/x15/cover.html NASA's X-15 website]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-60/cover.html X-15 Research Results With a Selected Bibliography (NASA SP-60, 1965)]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/hyperrev-x15/cover.html "Transiting from Air to Space: The North American X-15" (1998)]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/x15conf/cover.html "Proceedings of the X-15 First Flight 30th Anniversary Celebration of June 8, 1989"]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/monograph18.pdf (PDF) Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane (NASA SP-2000-4518, 2000)]
- [http://www.x15.com unofficial X-15 website]
- [http://www.x-15.com Another unofficial X-15 website]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-60/cover.html X-15 Research Results (1964)]
- [http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/X-15/ X-15 photos at Dryden]
- [http://www.astronautix.com/craft/x15a.htm Encyclopedia Astronautica's X-15 chronology]
- [http://www.xb-70.com/wmaa/x15/monument/ Major Michael Adams Monument]
- [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/prototypes.com/x15/index.html X-15 site in french, all missions details]

Gemini 3

Gemini 3 was a 1965 manned space flight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the first manned Gemini flight, the ninth manned American flight and the 17th manned spaceflight of all time (includes X-15 flights over 100 kilometres).

Crew

- Virgil I. Grissom (flew on Mercury 4, Gemini 3, & Apollo 1), Command Pilot
- John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9), Pilot

Backup crew

- Walter M. Schirra, Command Pilot
- Thomas P. Stafford, Pilot

Mission parameters

- Mass: 3,236.9 kg
- Perigee: 161.2 km
- Apogee: 224.2 km
- Inclination: 32.6 degrees
- Period: 88.3 minutes
- First orbital maneuver by manned spacecraft On March 23, 1965 at 15:57:00 UTC, at the end of the first orbit, over Corpus Christi, Texas, a 1 minute 14 second burn of the Orbit attitude and maneuvering system (OAMS) engines gave a delta-V of 15.5 meters per second. The orbit was changed from 161.2 km x 224.2 km, period 88.3 minutes to an orbit of 158 km x 169 km, period 87.8 minutes.

Objectives

This first manned flight of the Gemini spacecraft was very much a test flight. In a playful reference to the Broadway hit The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grissom nicknamed the Gemini 3 spacecraft "Molly Brown," hoping that it would not duplicate his experience with Liberty Bell 7. (It was the last Gemini to be named by an astronaut. All subsequent flights in the program were designated by a Roman numeral.) The mission's primary goal was to test the new, maneuverable Gemini spacecraft. In space, the crew fired thrusters to change the shape of their orbit, shift their orbital plane slightly, and drop to a lower altitude. Other firsts were achieved on Gemini 3: two people flew aboard an American spacecraft; the first manned re-entry where the spacecraft was able to produce lift to change its touchdown point.

Flight

The only major incident during the orbital phase involved a contraband corned beef sandwich that Young had snuck on board. The crew each took a few bites before the sandwich had to be restowed. The crumbs it released could have wreaked havoc with the craft's electronics, so the crew were reprimanded when they returned to Earth. Other crews were warned not to pull the same type of stunt again. corned beefTwo small failures occurred in-orbit. The first was an experiment testing the Synergistic Effect of Zero Gravity on Sea Urchin Eggs. A lever essential to the experiment broke off when pulled. The second involved the photographic coverage objective. It was only partially successful due to an improper lens setting on the 16mm camera. The crew made their first orbit change an hour and a half into the flight. The burn lasted 75 seconds and moved them from a 122 by 175 kilometer orbit to a nearly circular one with a drop in speed of 15 metres per second. The second burn was 45 minutes later when the orbital inclination was changed by 0.02 degrees. The last burn came during the third orbit when the perigee was lowered to 72 kilometres. This meant that even if retrorockets had failed, they would still have reentered. When reentry finally occurred, crew commented that even the colours matched ground simulations. On descent, the capsule shifted from a vertical to horizontal attitude under its parachutes. The change was so sudden that Grissom cracked his faceplate on the control panel in front of him. The craft landed eventually 84 kilometers short of its intended splashdown point. Wind tunnel testing incorrectly predicted the craft's ability to compensate for course deviation. When the crew discovered the error, they decided to stay in the capsule, not wanting to open the hatch before the arrival of the recovery ship. The crew spent an uncomfortable half an hour in a spacecraft never designed to be a boat. The Gemini 3 mission was supported by the following United States Department of Defense resources: 10,185 personnel, 126 aircraft and 27 ships.

Insignia

The mission insignia was not worn by the flight crew as a patch, like those from Gemini 5 onwards. The Gemini 3 Molly Brown logo was designed and minted on gold plated, sterling silver, 1-inch (25-mm) medallions. The crew carried a number of these medallions into space to give to their families and friends. The same design was imprinted on the cover of Gus Grissom's book, GEMINI, and John Young was seen wearing the Molly Brown logo as a patch on his flightsuit as late as 1981. The name "Molly Brown" was chosen by Grissom as a reference to the sinking of Liberty Bell 7; NASA officials found the slightly sarcastic reference embarrassing, and astronauts were not allowed to name their spacecraft again until Apollo 9 when for the first time, two spacecraft would be operating independently as part of the same mission.

Capsule location

The capsule is on display at the Grissom Memorial, Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana.

External links

- On The Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/cover.htm
- Spaceflight Mission Patches: http://www.genedorr.com/patches/Intro.html
- Astronaut John W. Young website: http://www.johnwyoung.com
- Gemini 3 page on A Field Guide To American Spacecraft: http://aesp.nasa.okstate.edu/fieldguide/pages/gemini/gt-3.html Gemini 03 Gemini 03

Apollo 10

Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. The module came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface during practice maneuvers. According to the 2001 Guinness World Records Apollo 10 has the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle: 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph). The speed record was set during the return from the Moon on the 26 May, 1969.

Crew

- Thomas Stafford (flew on Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, & Apollo-Soyuz), commander
- John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9), command module pilot
- Eugene Cernan (flew on Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, & Apollo 17), lunar module pilot

Backup Crew

- Gordon Cooper(flew on Mercury 9, Gemini 5), commander
- Donn Eisele(flew on Apollo 7), command module pilot
- Edgar Mitchell(flew on Apollo 14, lunar module pilot

Support Crew

- Charles Duke(flew on Apollo 16)
- Joe Engle(flew on STS-2, STS-51I)
- James Irwin(flew on Apollo 15 )
- Jack Lousma(flew on Skylab 3, STS-3)

Mission Parameters

- Mass: CSM 28,834 kg; LM 13,941 kg
- Perigee: 184.5 km
- Apogee: 190 km
- Inclination: 32.5°
- Period: 88.1 min
- Perilune: 111.1 km
- Apolune: 316.7 km
- Inclination: 1.2°
- Period: 2.15 hours

LM - CSM Docking

- Undocked: May 22, 1969 - 19:00:57 UTC
- Redocked: May 23, 1969 - 03:11:02 UTC

LM closest approach to lunar surface

- May 22, 1969, 21:29:43 UTC On May 22 1969 at 20:35:02 UTC, a 27.4 second LM descent propulsion system burn inserted the LM into a descent orbit of 112.8 km by 15.7 km so that the resulting lowest point in the orbit occurred about 15° from lunar landing site 2 (the Apollo 11 landing site). The lowest measured point in the trajectory was 15.6 km above the lunar surface at 21:29:43 UTC.

Mission Highlights

This dress rehearsal for a Moon landing brought Stafford and Cernan's lunar module, nicknamed "Snoopy", to 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) from the lunar surface. Except for that final stretch, the mission went exactly as a landing would have gone, both in space and on the ground, where Apollo's extensive tracking and control network was put through a dry run. Shortly after leaving low Earth orbit, the command/service module separated from the S-IVB stage, turned around, and docked its nose to the top of the lunar module still nestled in the S-IVB. The CSM/LM stack then separated from the S-IVB for the trip to the moon. Upon reaching lunar orbit, Young remained alone in his command module "Charlie Brown," while Stafford and Cernan flew separately in the LM. They checked out the LM's radar and ascent engine, rode out a momentary gyration in the lunar lander's motion (due to a faulty switch setting), and surveyed the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. This test article of the lunar module was not equipped to land, however. Apollo 10 also added another first-broadcasting live color TV from space. On May 22 1969 Apollo 10's lunar module flew within 15.6 km of the Moon's surface. :Launched: May 18, 1969 from Pad 39B :Returned: May 26, 1969 :Crew members: Tom Stafford, commander; John Young, command module pilot; Gene Cernan, lunar module pilot :Command module: Charlie Brown :Lunar module: Snoopy The command module is displayed at the Science Museum in London. The lunar module is in heliocentric orbit, thus making it the only intact lunar module ascent stage out of all of the lunar modules sent into space (Apollos 5, 9, 13 LM ascent stages burned up in Earth's atmosphere, Apollo 11 LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit - eventually crashed on moon, Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 LM ascent stages deliberately crashed into moon) . Image:Ap10-KSC-68C-7912.jpg|The S-IC first stage in the VAB Image:Ap10-KSC-69PC-110.jpg|Apollo 10 during rollout (NASA) Image:As10-27-3881.jpg|CSM "Charlie Brown" (NASA) Image:As10-345117.jpg|LM "Snoopy" (NASA) Image:Apollo_10_earthrise.jpg|Apollo 10 view of Earth rise. (NASA)

Reference

- [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html NASA NSSDC Master Catalog]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA)]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table2.38.htm Apollo 10 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK]

External link

- [http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo10.htm Apollo 10 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/cover.htm The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/apsr/apsr.htm Apollo Program Summary Report]
- [http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/Ap10.html Mission Report: Apollo 10] Category:Lunar spacecraft Category:Human spaceflights Category:Apollo program

STS-1

: STS-1 is also an abbreviation for Synchronous Transport Signal (level)-1 in the SONET hierarchy.

Mission insignia

image:STS-1 flight insignia.png
Mission statistics
Mission:	STS-1
Shuttle:	Columbia
Launch pad:	39A
Launch:	April 12, 1981 6:00:03 a.m. CST (12:00:03 UTC)
Landing:	April 14, 1981 12:20:57 p.m. CST (18:20:57 UTC) Edwards AFB, Runway 23
Duration:	2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes, 53 seconds
Orbit altitude:	166 nautical miles (307 km)
Orbit inclination:	40.3 degrees
Orbits:	36
Distance traveled:	1,074,000 miles (1,728,000 km)
Crew photo
image:STS-1 crew.jpg Crew members John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen pose in ejection escape suits (EES) with small model of space shuttle.

The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, launched April 12, 1981, returned April 14. Space Shuttle Columbia orbited the earth 36 times in this 54.5 hour mission.

Crew

- Commander: John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9)
- Pilot: Robert Crippen (flew on STS-1, STS-7, STS-41-C, & STS-41-G) The crew of STS-2 served as backup for this mission.
- Backup Commander: Joe Engle
- Backup Pilot: Richard Truly

Mission parameters

- Mass:
- Orbiter Liftoff: 99,453 kg
- Orbiter Landing: 88,662 kg
- DFI payload: 4,909 kg
- Perigee: 240 km
- Apogee: 251 km
- Inclination: 40.3°
- Period: 89.4 min

Mission highlights

The first launch of the Space Shuttle occurred on April 12, 1981, when the orbiter Columbia, with two crew members, astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center -- the first of 24 launches from Pad A. It was exactly 7 a.m. EST. A launch attempt, 2 days before, was scrubbed because of a timing problem in one of the Columbia's general purpose computers. Not only was this the first launch of the Space Shuttle, but it marked the first time that solid fuel rockets were used for a U.S. manned launch. The STS-1 orbiter, Columbia, also holds the record for the amount of time spent in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) before launch -- 610 days, time needed for replacement of many of its heat shield tiles. Primary mission objectives of the maiden flight were to check out the overall Shuttle system, accomplish a safe ascent into orbit and to return to Earth for a safe landing. All of these objectives were met successfully and the Shuttle's worthiness as a space vehicle was verified. The only payload carried on the mission was a Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) package which contained sensors and measuring devices to record orbiter performance and the stresses that occurred during launch, ascent, orbital flight, descent and landing. The 36-orbit, 933,757-mile-long flight lasted 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes and 32 seconds. Landing took place on Runway 23 at Edwards AFB, Calif., on April 14, 1981, at 10:21 a.m. PST. Post-flight inspection of the Columbia revealed that an overpressure wave which occurred when the SRB ignited resulted in the loss of 16 heat shield tiles and damage to 148 others. In all other respects, however, Columbia came through the flight with flying colors, and it was to fly the next four Shuttle missions. Columbia was returned to Kennedy Space Center from California on April 28 atop its 747 carrier aircraft.

Mission insignia

The art work for the official mission insignia was done by artist Robert McCall.

Anniversary

Yuri's Night is an international celebration held on April 12 every year to commemorate the first human in space and the first Space Shuttle launch.

Media

Image:Columba.sts-1.training.triddle.jpg| Image:Space shuttle.sts-1.crawler.triddle.jpg| Image:Columba.sts-1.launch_pad_arival.triddle.jpg Image:Columbia.sts-1.pad at night.triddle.jpg| Image:Shuttle.jpg| Image:Sts1-liftoff-columbia.triddle.jpg| Image:Columbia landing on Rogers dry lake.triddle.jpg| Image:Columbia.sts-1.egress.triddle.jpg|

External links

- [http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/chron/sts-1.htm NASA PAO page about STS-1]

Previous mission:
None

Space Shuttle program

Next mission:
STS-2

STS-001 STS-001 ja:STS-1

Michael Collins (astronaut)

Michael Collins (born in Rome, October 31, 1930) was an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He attended St. Albans School, then the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in the Class of 1952. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force, and served as an F-86 pilot, then as the commander of a Mobile Training Detachment, and a Field Training Detachment at Chanute and Nellis Air Force Bases. In 1960, he was assigned to the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. Following graduation, he was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center, also at Edwards AFB, where he tested various Air Force fighter planes. Collins joined NASA as part of the third astronaut group in 1963. He was the backup pilot of Gemini 7, and made his first spaceflight on Gemini 10. On this flight he and the mission commander John Young set a new record for the highest flight, 475 miles above the Earth. Collins made two spacewalks on this mission. Collins was originally scheduled to fly as command module pilot of what would be Apollo 8 with Frank Borman and William Anders. However, in July 1968, he was diagnosed with a bone spur pressing on his spinal cord and was taken off the crew, to be replaced by Jim Lovell. Subsequent corrective surgery was successful, although for a time he was off flight status. In July 1969, he flew as command module pilot of Apollo 11, which made the first lunar landing. Collins orbited the Moon in the CSM "Columbia", while his colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the lunar surface. He was described at the time, as "the loneliest person on or off the planet." When the Command Module was on the opposite side of the moon, he was at least two thousand miles away from his fellow astronauts, and over two hundred thousand miles from the rest of humanity back on Earth. As command module pilot of Apollo 11, Collins would probably have been scheduled to be backup commander of Apollo 14 and prime commander of Apollo 17. He declined to take up these positions however, and left NASA in January 1970. From 1971 to 1978, Collins was the director of the National Air and Space Museum. He resigned that post in April 1978 to become the Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a post he held until 1980. Collins wrote a book, Carrying the Fire ISBN 1885283148, about his experiences as an astronaut. Collins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a small lunar crater (near the Apollo 11 landing site) and asteroid 6471 are named in his honor. His daughter, Kate Collins, is an actress who is most known for her role on All My Children. In the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Collins was played by Cary Elwes.

External links

- [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/collins-m.html Biography] Collins, Michael Collins Collins, Michael Collins Collins, Michael

Alan Bean

Alan Bean (born March 15, 1932 in Wheeler, Texas) is a former NASA Astronaut. He graduated from Paschal High School in Fort Worth, Texas; received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1955 and after a four year tour as a fighter pilot trained as a Navy Test Pilot where his instructor was his future Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of science from [http://www.txwesleyan.edu/ Texas Wesleyan College] in 1972, and was presented an honorary doctorate of engineering science degree from the University of Akron (Ohio) in 1974. Bean was selected by NASA as part of group 3 in 1963 but was unsuccessful in securing an early flight assignment. When fellow astronaut Clifton Williams was killed in a training accident a space was opened for Bean on the back-up crew for Apollo 9. Captain Bean was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, the second lunar landing. In November 1969, Captain Bean and Captain Pete Conrad landed in the moon's Ocean of Storms—after a flight of 250,000 miles. They explored the lunar surface, deployed several lunar surface experiments, and installed the first nuclear power generator station on the moon to provide the power source. Captain Richard Gordon remained in lunar orbit photographing landing sites for future missions. Richard Gordon Captain Bean was also the spacecraft commander of Skylab 3, the second manned mission to Skylab, July 29 to September 25, 1973. With him on the 59-day, 24,400,000 mile world record setting flight were scientist-astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott and Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Jack Lousma. During the mission Bean also tested a prototype of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and led three space walks totaling 13 hours. On his next assignment, Captain Bean was backup spacecraft commander of the United States flight crew for the joint American-Russian Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Captain Bean retired from the Navy in October 1975 but continued as head of the Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group within the Astronaut Office in a civilian capacity. Bean resigned from NASA in June 1981 to devote his full time to painting. Many of his paintings reside on the walls of space enthusiasts. He said his decision was based on the fact that, in his 18 years as an astronaut, he was fortunate enough to visit worlds and see sights no artist's eye, past or present, has ever viewed firsthand and he hopes to express these experiences through the medium of art. He is pursuing this dream at his home and studio in Houston. He is married and has two grown children, a son and a daughter. An entire episode of the miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon was narrated from Bean's perspective; in this episode, he was portrayed by Dave Foley. Rock band Hefner have a song called Alan Bean, featuring the lyrics "Everyone will forget soon, The fourth man on the moon, But I've got it in my mind."

External links

- [http://www.alanbeangallery.com Alan Bean Online Gallery] - An authorized gallery of all his paintings
- [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/bean-al.html Alan Bean Astronaut Bio] - NASA's biography of Bean Bean, Alan Bean, Alan Bean, Alan Bean, Alan Bean, Alan Bean, Alan

Clifton Williams

: Clifton Williams is also a composer. ---- Clifton 'C.C.' Williams (September 26, 1932 - October 5, 1967) was a NASA astronaut and USMC Major who was killed after a mechanical failure caused the flight controls in a T-38 he was piloting to stop responding. The aircraft crashed in Florida near Tallahassee. Williams earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Auburn University in 1954. Having joined the Navy ROTC while at AU, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps on August 9 that year. He was married to Beth Lansche Williams and had two children, Catherine and Jane Dee. He had previously served on the backup crew for Gemini X and had been assigned to the back-up crew for what would be the Apollo 9 mission. This crew placement would have most likely lead to an assignment as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 12. After his death he was replaced on the Apollo 9 backup crew by Al Bean who had been his commander on the Gemini X backup crew. The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it - one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams. Williams is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

External links

- [http://www11.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/williams-cc.html NASA biography]
- [http://amfcse.org/honor/williams.htm Astronaut Memorial Foundation webpage] Williams, Clifton Williams, Clifton Williams, Clifton Williams, Clifton

Perigee

: This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms). In architecture, apsis is a synonym for apse; Apogee is also the name of a video game publisher. video game publisher In astronomy, an apsis (plural apsides "ap-si-deez") is the point of greatest or least distance of the elliptical orbit of a celestial body from its center of attraction (the center of mass of the system). The point of closest approach is called the periapsis or pericentre and the point of farthest approach is the apoapsis (Greek απο, from), apocentre or apapsis (the latter term, although etymologically more correct, is much less used). A straight line drawn through the periapsis and apoapsis is the line of apsides. This is the major axis of the ellipse, the line through the longest part of the ellipse. Related terms are used to identify the body being orbited. The most common are perigee and apogee, referring to Earth orbits, and perihelion and aphelion, referring to orbits around the Sun (Greek ἡλιος).

Formulae

We have:
- Periapsis: maximum speed

v_\mathrm = \sqrt \,

at minimum distance

r_\mathrm=(1-e)a\!\,

(periapsis distance)
- Apoapsis: minimum speed

v_\mathrm = \sqrt \,

at maximum distance

r_\mathrm=(1+e)a\!\,

(apoapsis distance) where one easily verifies :

h = \sqrt

\epsilon=-\frac

(each the same for both points, like they are for the whole orbit, in accordance with Kepler's laws of planetary motion (conservation of angular momentum) and the conservation of energy) where:
-

a\!\,

is the semi-major axis
-

e\!\,

is the eccentricity
-

h\!\,

is the specific relative angular momentum
-

\epsilon\!\,

is the specific orbital energy
-

\mu\!\,

is the standard gravitational parameter Properties: :

e=\frac=1-\frac=\frac-1

Note that for conversion from heights above the surface to distances, the radius of the central body has to be added, and conversely. The arithmetic mean of the two distances is the semi-major axis

a\!\,

. The geometric mean of the two distances is the semi-minor axis

b\!\,

. The geometric mean of the two speeds is

\sqrt

, the speed corresponding to a kinetic energy which, at any position of the orbit, added to the existing kinetic energy, would allow the orbiting body to escape (the square root of the sum of the squares of the two speeds is the local escape velocity).

Terminology

Various related terms are used for other celestial objects. The '-gee', '-helion' and '-astron' and '-galacticon' forms are frequently used in the astronomical literature, while the other listed forms are occasionally used, although '-saturnium' has very rarely been used in the last 50 years. The '-gee' form is commonly (although incorrectly) used as a generic 'closest approach to planet' term instead of specifically applying to the Earth. The term peri/apomelasma was used by Geoffrey A. Landis in 1998 before peri/aponigricon appeared in the scientific literature in 2002. ⁽¹⁾ Properly pronounced 'affelion', although 'ap-helion' is commonly heard. Since "peri" and "apo" are Greek, it is considered by purists more correct to use the Greek form for the body, giving forms such as '-zene' for Jupiter and '-krone' for Saturn. For Venus, the alternate form '-krition' (from Kritias, an older name for Aphrodite) has also been suggested. In the Moon's case, in practice all three forms are used, albeit very infrequently. The '-cynthion' form is, according to some, reserved for artificial bodies, whilst others reserve '-lune' for an object launched from the Moon and '-cynthion' for an object launched from elsewhere. For Jupiter, the '-jove' form is occasionally used by astronomers whilst the '-zene' form is never used, like the other pure Greek forms ('-cytherion' (Venus), '-areion' (Mars), '-hermion' (Mercury), '-krone' (Saturn), '-uranion' (Uranus), '-poseidion' (Neptune) and '-hadion' (Pluto)). The daunting prospect of having to maintain a different word for every orbitable body in the solar system (and beyond) is the main reason why the generic '-apsis' has become the almost universal norm.

Inclination

Inclination in general is the angle between an axis of direction or a plane, and a reference plane.

Orbits

In particular, the inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit. It is the angular distance of the orbital plane from the

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