THE MANNED FLIGHTS - FIRST "EVA"

Gemini III, MOLLY BROWN

March 23, 1965
Virgil I. Grissom, John W. Young
04 hours, 52 minutes 31 seconds
First manned Gemini flight, 3 orbits.

Gemini IV
June 03-07, 1965

James A. McDivitt, Edward H. White II
4 days 1 hour 56min 12 seconds
Astronaut White succesfullly performed the 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 use of fuel cells for electrical power; evaluated guidance and navigation system for future rendezvous missions.
Completed 120 orbits.

These three flights proved the basic ability of both astronauts and spacecraft to meet the objectives of Project Gemini. Absolving the first EVA, testing of navigation systems and one week duration of the last flight were important achievemnts for the next Gemini missions.

THE MANNED FLIGHTS - Rendezvous and Docking

Gemini VII
December 04-18, 1965
Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr.
13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes 1 seconds
When the 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
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.

THE FINAL FLIGHTS

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.

After succesful docking with Agena target vehicle, Agena's propulsion systems to maneuver on the orbit. This was a very important achievement for future possibilities of both Gemini and Apollo missions.

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 E. Aldrin, Jr.
3 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes 31 seconds
Final Gemini flight.
Rendezvoused and docked 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