Gemini 8
| Mission emblem | |||
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| Mission dates | |||
| Mission: | Gemini 8 | ||
| COSPAR-ID : | 1966-020A | ||
| Spacecraft: | Gemini 8 | ||
| Launcher: | Titan II Gemini 62-12563 | ||
| Crew: | 2 | ||
| Begin: | March 16, 1966, 16:41:02 UTC JD : 2439201.195162 |
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| Starting place: | LC-19 , Cape Canaveral | ||
| Landing: | March 17, 1966, 03:22:28 UTC JD : 2439201.6406019 |
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| Landing place: |
Pacific 25 ° 14 ′ N , 136 ° 0 ′ W |
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| Flight duration: | 10h 41min 26s | ||
| Earth orbits: | 7th | ||
| Recovery ship: | USS Leonard F. Mason | ||
| Orbit inclination : | 28.91 ° | ||
| Apogee : | 271.9 km | ||
| Perigee : | 159.9 km | ||
| Covered track: | 293,206 km | ||
| Team photo | |||
 from left David Scott and Neil Armstrong |
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| ◄ Before / After ► | |||
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Gemini 8 (GT-8) was a manned space flight under the US Gemini program .
crew
On September 20, 1965, shortly after Gemini 5 landed , NASA announced the crew for the Gemini 8 flight. As expected, the replacement commander of Gemini 5, Neil Armstrong , has been given command for the next available space flight. This also made him the first US civilian in space; the previous astronauts were all members of the US armed forces.
As expected, the replacement pilot for Gemini 5, Elliot See , was not assigned as the pilot of Gemini 8 . Instead got David Scott preference, which for the first time an astronaut of the third selection group came to a space mission. Deke Slayton , who was responsible for the division of the team, later justified this with doubts as to whether See would have been able to cope with the physical exertion of the planned outdoor assignment.
Pete Conrad , who was already in space with Gemini 5, and Richard Gordon were assigned as substitutes .
Liaison speakers ( Capcom ) during the flight were astronauts Walter Cunningham and Jim Lovell .
preparation
The mission profile of Gemini 8 provided for coupling to an Agena target satellite , as was already planned for Gemini 6. Back in October 1965, however, the satellite launch failed, which is why this docking was moved to Gemini 8.
In addition, it was planned that David Scott should leave the spaceship and conduct an external mission (EVA). In contrast to the relatively short departure of Ed White in Gemini 4 EVA should last about 90 minutes, so also take place on the night side of the earth. Furthermore, ten scientific experiments should be carried out.
On January 8, 1966, the Gemini spaceship arrived at Cape Kennedy . On January 13, the Titan launcher was erected on the launch pad. The spacecraft was mounted on the launcher on January 31st.
Flight history
On March 16, the target satellite was successfully launched with an Atlas Agena rocket . An orbit around the earth (approx. 100 minutes) later followed Gemini 8 with the astronauts Armstrong and Scott. The astronauts were able to locate the Agena visually from a distance of 330 km by radar and from a distance of 140 km, after first adjusting its apogee , then its perigee and finally its orbit to the orbit of the Agena. After about six hours of flight the spaceship caught up with the satellite, shortly afterwards and after an inspection, Gemini 8 docked. This was the first coupling of two spacecraft in orbit .
The Agena's engines could be operated remotely from both the ground station and the Gemini spacecraft, and it was planned to test the mechanical load on the combination. After a change in position, however, the Gemini-Agena combination could no longer be stabilized and began to rotate faster and faster. At that time there was no radio contact with a ground station, and the astronauts were initially on their own. They suspected the problem with the Agena and broke away from the satellite after handing control back to the ground station. Without the mass of the Agena, however, the movements only got stronger and almost reached the load limit of spacecraft and astronauts - with an ever increasing rotation, unconsciousness of the crew could not be ruled out.
Armstrong and Scott attempted to stabilize the spaceship again at a rotation speed of one revolution per second, but only succeeded after they used the re-entry position control system instead of the orbital position control system. The problem was identified shortly afterwards: due to a short circuit, a nozzle of the orbital position control system had jammed and kept firing.
With these maneuvers, Gemini 8 had now consumed so much fuel that a continuation of the mission was out of the question. At the next opportunity the return to earth was initiated. Since it was already night over the Atlantic Ocean , the landing capsule fell in the Pacific . This space flight had only lasted eleven hours.
Shortly after the splashdown , Gemini 8 was reached by a rescue helicopter that had taken off from Okinawa . Divers secured the landing capsule until after three hours the destroyer USS Leonard F. Mason reached Gemini 8 and was able to take the exhausted astronauts on board.
Importance to the Gemini program
On the one hand, this was the first successful coupling of two spacecraft (the first time that the Americans had a head start on the Soviet Union ), on the other hand, it was also the first space flight that had to be canceled due to an emergency.
The jammed control nozzle problem arose at an inconvenient time when a lot of important people happened to be unavailable. Some NASA executives were at a banquet, while the experts from the spacecraft manufacturer McDonnell were on the flight from Cape Kennedy to Houston to follow the flight from the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center control center there . For further space flights it was ensured that important people were not all on the move at the same time and that McDonnell employees were available at all times in the control center in Houston during the flight.
The Agena satellite remained in orbit, was moved into another orbit by remote control and was intended to serve as a target for further rendezvous maneuvers.
See also
literature
- James R. Hansen: First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong . Simon & Schuster, 2005, ISBN 0-7432-5631-X
Individual evidence
- ↑ Deke Slayton and Michael Cassutt: Deke! Forge, New York 1994, p. 167
- ↑ James R. Hansen: First Man ... p. 258 (2012 edition)
- ↑ James R. Hansen: First Man ... p. 259 (2012 edition)
Web links
- Gemini 8 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
- NASA: Gemini-8-mission summary (English)
- Radio communication protocols (PDF; 167/113 pages; 8/2 MB)
