Project Gemini:
After the pioneering manned space flights of Project Mercury from 1961 to 1963 and before a man could actually land and walk on the surface of the Moon with Project Apollo, a program was required to test all that needed to be done to reach the goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: To land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s.

This intermediate program was Project Gemini, a project of the United States' second generation of manned spacecraft.

The second U.S. manned space program was announced in January 1962 .

Its two-man crew gave it its name, Gemini, for the third constellation of the Zodiac and its twin stars, Castor and Pollux. Gemini involved 12 flights, including two unmanned flight tests of the equipment.

Gemini Objectives: Like Mercury's, its major objectives were clear-cut:

* To subject man and equipment to space flight up to two weeks in duration

* To rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles and to maneuver the docked combination by using the target vehicle's propulsion system

* To perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing at a preselected point on land.

Its goals were also met, with the exception of a land landing, which was cancelled in 1964.

The spacecraft: The spacecraft was an enlargement of the familiar Mercury capsule: 5.8m (19 ft) long, 3m (10 ft) in diameter, and about 3810 kg (8400 pounds) in weight.

Engineering changes simplified maintenance and made it more maneuverable for the pilots.

The Titan II rocket, much more powerful than the Redstone, placed the larger spacecraft into orbit.

Sometimes referred to as Gemini-Titan for the craft and its launch vehicle, each flight was designated by a Roman numeral. Only the first capsule was nicknamed; Command Pilot Virgil Grissom called it the MOLLY BROWN in reference to his Mercury spacecraft that sank.