50 Years Ago: Gemini Program FIrst Unmanned Launch

NASA published image of Gemini Launching atop a modified Titan II rocket. The Launch tower more closely resembles the familiar tower design we would see later with the Apollo program.

Between the end of the Mercury program and the start of launches for Project Gemini, there were lots of rockets tested, satellites put into space, and experiments conducted in the upper atmosphere and Earth orbit. Then 50 years ago on April 8th, the look and feel of the new Gemini program came to life as the twin engines on the Titan II rocket roared into action. With the exhaust plume directed under the pad and to the side, cameras had a clear view of the rocket flames as the vehicle lifted off and cleared the tower. Perched on top of the rocket was a mockup of the Gemini capsule (called the boilerplate) that gave us the view of how missions would look in future launches. In the future, two astronauts would ride the rocket and no American would go into space alone again. 

Before the launch. The gantry tower, which was used to help stack the stages of the rocket together with the capsule, lowered into a horizontal position to avoid damage from the blast-off. 

Designated mission GT-1 (Gemini-Titan 1), this test mission was designed to evaluate the entire Titan II launch vehicle system, and the Gemini spacecraft integrity and compatibility with the rocket. After a perfect countdown and liftoff, the rocket staged and placed not only the capsule but also the second stage into orbit about 204 miles at its highest. OK, maybe not perfect. The vehicle faster than expected placing the craft in orbit going 14 miles faster than planned. The orbit path was not meant to last a long time, and the assembly was calculated to re-enter the atmosphere in 3 and a half days.

The next day, Titan II ICBM testing at Florida came to an end. The 33rd and final rocket launch for the USAF made a successful trip out over the Atlantic, and the ICBM portion of Titan II Research and development was completed.

50 Years Ago: NASA Preps for Gemini and other Programs

Titan II rocket on the pad at LC19, Cape Kennedy in 1964. There appears to be a "boiler-plate" Gemini capsule perched on top, possibly for a test flight.

Fifty years ago, as March ended and spring began, the nation had a problem similar to the one we face today: Our new rocket was not ready. The Mercury program had concluded in 1963 with the launch of Gordon Cooper. From that point on, no American would launch alone in a spacecraft again. Gemini would feature a larger spacecraft carrying two astronauts, for longer duration flights in preparation for the eventual Apollo Moon landing program. But the rocket still needed work, as did the capsule, and of course, the astronauts.

First launch of a Titan II ICBM from the pad at Cape Kennedy.

By March 30 the US Air Force had announced nine major changes needed to the Titan II ICBM missile would be required to "man-rate" the rocket. 1) Addition of malfunction detection system; 2) backup flight control; 3) redundant electrical system with changes for additional launch vehicle equipment; 4) substitution of radio guidance for inertial guidance; 5) elimination of retrorockets and verniers; 6) new structure on second stage to hold new flight guidance and control equipment; 7) new second stage skirt assembly to join spacecraft; 8) simplification of trajectory tracking; and 9) redundancy in hydraulic systems. Throughout 1964 NASA would be testing and launching Titan II rockets from pad LC-19. Previous Titan 1 and II testing had occurred at LC-16.

Sketch of the pad layout at Launch Complex 19.

Astronauts, too, were working long hours in preparation for their Gemini missions. Some of the astronauts from project Mercury, along with the "New Nine," rehearsed the maneuvers they would be performing in simulators at NASA. One of the cool picture sets I've found is of the Rendezvous Docking Simulator used in training. Gemini missions would feature docking spacecraft to get astronauts ready for the complex maneuvers that would occur in the Apollo program.

Gemini spacecraft simulator suspended from complex wire array harness.

View of approaching Gemini craft from a simulation of a docking component, probably a mock-up of the Atlas-Agena target. I'm not sure which astronaut is hanging out of the hatch. The Gemini capsule would be a second-generation capsule mockup.

A first-generation capsule mockup.

Some of the computers controlling the docking simulator.

Simulator flight control panel for the RDS. 

Besides rockets and capsules, the astronauts needed to train for splashdowns and using the new Gemini spacesuits, an improvement over the Mercury Project suits. 

Gus Grissom, veteran of the Mercury project, tries on the new Gemini spacesuit. In his Mercury flight, he was only able to fly a sub-orbital mission across the Atlantic. In Gemini, he would achieve orbit.

50 YA - Kennedy watches an Atlas Test

President Kennedy with Air Force Generals at Vandenberg AFB. Picture from the SAC Elite Guard Association site.

On March 23, 1962 President John F. Kennedy did something no other president had ever done. He watched a test firing of an Atlas D InterContinental Ballistic MIssile (ICBM) from a silo at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Vandenberg AFB was the site for many of the military test missions of ICBM's, and also included launch silos for operational use of in-service ICBMs.

Welcome for Air Force One and the President. Picture from the SAC Elite Guard Association site.

It's important for us to remember today, that way back then in the early 60's our nation was experiencing the Cold War with our enemies, Soviet Russia. ICBMs stood by in each country ready to launch and inflict nuclear warfare on the other nation. So it seems more than appropriate that the American President should have been witness to a launch of our country's most important defensive weapon at the time. At the same time, both of our countries were engaged in a politically-inspired race of technology to conquer space and lead the world in space technology. In 1962, the Soviets seemed to be winning that race, and President Kennedy was gearing up the nation to be the first to land men on the Moon.

Atlas D ICBM at Pad 12 at Cape Canaveral.

The rocket launched that day from California was the Atlas D model ICBM. This type first flew in 1959. The operational rocket witness by the President was launched from a silo buried in the ground to protect it from enemy attack and hide it from surveillance. I was unable to find a picture of the silo and launch, though there is a video on Youtube that shows President Kennedy observing the blast-off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j5UaRnk4mg

(Thanks HelmerReenberg and Youtube!) I've included a picture of an Atlas D model at Launch Complex 12 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Atlas D was used for other NASA purposes as well, including 4 Mercury Program launches.