Gemini 9A - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Backup crew

Original primary crew

Mission parameters

Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

: 3750 kilograms (8,267.3 lb)
Perigee
Perigee
Perigee is the point at which an object makes its closest approach to the Earth.. Often the term is used in a broader sense to define the point in an orbit where the orbiting body is closest to the body it orbits. The opposite is the apogee, the farthest or highest point.The Greek prefix "peri"...

: 158.8 kilometres (98.7 mi)
Apogee: 266.9 kilometres (165.8 mi)
Inclination
Inclination
Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...

: 28.91°
Period
Orbital period
The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...

: 88.78 min

1st rendezvous

June 3, 1966 - 17:45 - 18:00 UTC

Spacewalk

Cernan
- Start: June 5, 1966, 15:02:00 UTC
- End: June 5, 1966, 17:09:00 UTC
- Duration: 2 hours and 7 minutes

Stafford and Cernan became the first backup crew to fly in space since Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter is an American engineer, former test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He is best known as one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959....

replaced Deke Slayton

Deke Slayton

Donald Kent Slayton , better known as Deke Slayton, was an American World War II pilot and later, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts....

on MA-7. The original prime crew for Gemini 9, Elliott See

Elliott See

Elliot McKay See, Jr. , was an American astronaut, selected in the second group of astronauts.Elliot See was born in Dallas, Texas and attended Highland Park High School. After initially attending The University of Texas where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, he then attended the United...

(Command Pilot) and Charles Bassett

Charles Bassett

Charles Arthur "Art" Bassett, II was an American engineer and United States Air Force officer. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963 and assigned to Gemini 9 but died in an airplane crash during training for his first spaceflight.-Early life and education:Bassett was born in Dayton, Ohio,...

(Pilot), were both killed on February 28, 1966 (four months before the mission) when their plane crashed into the McDonnell building in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

where technicians were working on their Gemini spacecraft. The backup crew of Stafford and Cernan was promoted to the prime crew, while a new backup crew was created from the crew originally assigned as backup to Gemini 10

Gemini 10

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *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:...

. This latter fact is significant as the standard crew rotation meant that a spot on the backup crew of Gemini 10 would have placed Buzz Aldrin on the prime crew of the non-existent Gemini 13. (The crew rotation usually meant that after serving on a backup crew, an astronaut could expect to skip two missions and then be on a prime crew.) Being moved up to the backup crew of Gemini 9 meant that Aldrin flew prime crew on Gemini 12

Gemini 12

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.87°*Period: 88.87 min-Docking:*Docked: November 12, 1966 - 01:06:00 UTC*Undocked: November 13, 1966 - 20:18:00 UTC-Space walk:...

, which played a major part in his selection for the Apollo 8

Apollo 8

Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...

backup and Apollo 11

Apollo 11

In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...

prime crews, ultimately making him the second man on the Moon.

Objectives

One of the mission objectives was to dock with an Agena Target Vehicle

Agena Target Vehicle

The Agena Target Vehicle was an unmanned spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques and to perform large orbital changes, in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions.-Operations:Each ATV consisted of an Agena-D...

in the same manner as the Gemini 8

Gemini 8

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.91°* Period: 88.83 min-Objectives:Gemini VIII had two major objectives, of which it achieved one...

mission. However, during the launch of the Gemini 9 Agena on May 17, 1966, its Atlas booster malfunctioned (rather than the Agena itself, as had previously caused Gemini 6 to be recast as Gemini 6A

Gemini 6A

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass: * Perigee: * Apogee: * Inclination: 28.97°* Period: 88.7 min-Stationkeeping with GT-7:* Start: December 15, 1965 19:33 UTC* End: December 16, 1965 00:52 UTC-Objectives:...

), and it failed to make it to orbit. As a result, the Gemini 9 launch scheduled for later that morning was scrubbed.

On June 1, 1966 a substitute for the Agena was launched in the form of the ATDA (Augmented Target Docking Adapter), designed and built by McDonnell (the manufacturers of the Gemini spacecraft). The ATDA was made from the forward docking section of an Agena with the reentry control section of a Gemini. It was built using already tested equipment and launched using the Atlas-SLV3 rocket. The docking was canceled, though, after Stafford and Cernan rendezvoused with the target to find its protective shroud still attached over the docking port, which made it look, in Stafford's words, like an "angry alligator."

As well as the docking there was also a planned EVA by Cernan. The plan was for him to move to the rear of the spacecraft and strap himself into the Air Force's

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). This was the first 'rocket pack' and a predecessor of the Manned Maneuvering Unit

Manned Maneuvering Unit

The Manned Maneuvering Unit is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications...

used by Shuttle astronauts in the 1980s. It had its own propulsion, stabilization system, oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

and telemetry

Telemetry

Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...

for the biomedical data and systems. It used hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...

for propellant

Propellant

A propellant is a material that produces pressurized gas that:* can be directed through a nozzle, thereby producing thrust ;...

, and because it produced extremely hot gases, Cernan's spacesuit was modified with "pants" made of woven steel known as "Chromel-R," which was later used on the gloves and Moon walking boots on Apollo spacesuits. This material was developed by the Air Force Systems Command

Air Force Systems Command

Air Force Systems Command is a former United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland...

for use in high-temperature deceleration devices for aerospace systems. (The current MMU uses nitrogen gas, which remains cold when vented.)

However, Cernan's spacewalk was troubled from the start. After pumping up his pressure siut to three and one half pounds of pressure per square inch, "the suit took on a life of its own and became so stiff that it didn't want to bend at all." He struggled to move inside his stiff suit.." As soon as he left the spacecraft, he began tumbling uncontrollably. He eventually made it back to the hatch area and began the slow climb to the rear of the spacecraft where his AMU was stored. While he was disconnecting himself from his capsule and hooking up to the backpack, his heart rate rose to about 155 beats per minute. His spacesuit had "all the flexibility of a rusty suit of armor".", which made everything take much longer than expected. While making the connections, Cernan became very tired. As he sweated, his visor began to fog. He rubbed his nose against the visor the clear a hole so he could see. " After making all the necessary connections, Cernan rested for a few minutes while Mission Control decided whether or not to proceed with the planned test of the AMU. Cernan, while physically exhused wanted to proceed, but Stafford called an end to the proceedings and ordered Cernan back inside before getting a chance to fly the AMU". The device was not finally tested in space until a modified version called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) was flown by astronaut Bruce McCandless on Shuttle Mission STS-41-B

STS-41-B

STS-41-B was the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission, launching on 3 February 1984 and landing on 11 February. It was the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Following STS-9, the flight numbering system for the Space Shuttle program was changed...

in 1984, 18 years later. As a result of Cernan's experience, the AMU never again flew on Gemini, as it was not essential to developing technology for the Apollo Moon landing mission.

The Gemini spacesuit was cooled by air. When an astronaut had an increased work load he began to sweat and in the confined space of a suit the cooling system would become overwhelmed and the visor would fog. The astronaut would then be effectively blind because he had no way of wiping off the faceplate. In future Gemini EVAs, the work loads of the astronauts were reduced, but it was clear that during lunar exploration workloads could be significant and changes were made to ensure that the Apollo EVA suit would be water cooled. This was accomplished by having the astronaut wear a garment that contained many thin tubes that circulated water near the skin. It was very effective and there were very few cases where astronauts used the "High" Cooling selection even though they were working hard and on the Moon in a 100C sun.

Launch attempts

	Gemini 9 Target Vehicles
Agena	GATV-5004
Mass	3252 kilograms (7,169.4 lb)
Launch site	LC-14
Launch date	May 17, 1966
Launch time	15:12 UTC
Destroyed	15:19 UTC
ATDA	#02186
NSSDC ID:	1966-046A
Mass	794 kilograms (1,750.5 lb)
Launch site	LC-14
Launch date	June 1, 1966
Launch time	15:00:02 UTC
1st perigee	298.4 kilometres (185.4 mi)
1st apogee	309.7 kilometres (192.4 mi)
Period	90.5 min
Inclination	28.87
Reentered	June 11, 1966

The first launch attempt of Gemini 9A was on June 1, 1966. The ATDA had launched perfectly into a 298 kilometre orbit, though telemetry from it indicated that the launch shroud had failed to open properly. But the Gemini spacecraft was not able to launch the same day as planned. At T-3 minutes, the ground computers could not contact the Gemini computers for some reason and the 40 second launch window

Launch window

Launch window is a term used in spaceflight to describe a time period in which a particular launch vehicle must be launched. If the rocket does not launch within the "window", it has to wait for the next window....

opened and closed without the launch. This earned Tom Stafford the title of "Mayor of Pad 19."

The second launch attempt went perfectly with the spacecraft entering into orbit. With this launch, Stafford could say that he had been strapped into a spacecraft six times ready for launch.

Rendezvous

Their first burn was 49 minutes after launch. They added 22.7 metres per second to their speed which put them in a 160 to 232 kilometres orbit. Their next burn was designed to correct phase, height, and out-of-plane errors. They pointed the spacecraft 40° down, and 3° to the 'left'. The burn added 16.2 metres per second to their speed and put them in a 274 by 276 kilometres orbit, closing at 38 metres per second on the ATDA.

The first radar readings were when they were 240 kilometres (149.1 mi) away and they had a solid lock at 222 kilometres (137.9 mi). Their first sight came 3 hours and 20 minutes into the mission when they were 93 kilometres (57.8 mi) away. They noted that they could see the flashing strobe lights on the ATDA designed to aid identification from a distance. This made them hope that the launch shroud had in fact been jettisoned and that the telemetry was wrong.

As they got closer they found the ADTA to be in a slow rotation, with the conical nose shroud still attached, the two pieces hanging agape at the front like a giant, open jaw. Stafford described "It looks like an angry alligator out here rotating around". He asked if maybe he could use the spacecraft to open the 'jaws' but the ground decided against it, fearing this might cause damage to the spacecraft.
The crew described how the shroud's explosive bolts had fired, but two neatly taped lanyard

Lanyard

A lanyard is a rope or cord exclusively worn around the neck or wrist to carry something. Usually it is used where there is a risk of losing the object or to ensure it is visible at all times. Aboard a ship, it may refer to a piece of rigging used to secure objects...

s were holding the shroud together. In Mission Control, astronaut Buzz Aldrin suggested that Cernan cut the spring-loaded lanyards with surgical scissors from the equipment pack. An experiment on the ground demonstrated this could indeed slice the lanyards, but also showed the ADTA bristled with dangerous, sharp edges. Ground controllers were, in Deke Slayton's words, "just aghast" at the idea, which didn't take into consideration the substantial risks of the explosive bolts holding the lanyards together, the constant spinning of the ADTA, or the fact that the lanyards, under pressure from the springs, might snap apart whip back, and puncture an astronaut's spacesuit.

The reason for the lanyards was soon discovered: Douglas built the shroud to be attached to the Agena second stage but the Air Force decided at the last minute that Atlas could achieve the desired orbit without NASA's second stage. This dropped NASA out of the launch and meant that the ATDA and fairing would be installed directly on Atlas—not Agena—and by a McDonnell crew instead of the normal Lockheed crew.

NASA had contracted the Douglas engineer to witness, inspect and sign off on the fairing installation, but before the mission he had gone home to be with his pregnant wife. On launch day, the McDonnell crew followed procedures published by Lockheed, which had been copied from Douglas documents. The instructions said, "See blueprint," but the Lockheed drawing was not used. The Douglas technician who normally hooked up the lanyards knew what to do with the loose ends, even without the blueprint. But he was not there, and the strangers fixing the ATDA's shroud looked at the dangling straps, wondered what to do with them, and taped them under the small fairings that protected the explosive bolts. After the launch, the Douglas engineer, with the help of Lockheed, set up a backup fairing and demonstrated the problem to McDonnell personnel and to George Mueller

George Mueller

George Mueller is the name of:*George Mueller , former NASA deputy administrator*George Müller , Christian evangelist and coordinator of orphanages in England...

, NASA assistant administrator.

The crew then did some planned rendezvous practice that involved them moving away from the ATDA by firing their thrusters and then practising approaching from below the target. They then got some much needed food and rest.

On the second day of the mission, they again approached the ATDA, this time from above. Once they were stationkeeping alongside, they were given permission for their EVA. But they were tired and Stafford didn't want to waste fuel keeping himself near the ATDA during the EVA when there was little they could do with it. So it was decided to postpone the EVA until the third day.

EVA

On the third day Cernan finally reached the rear of the spacecraft and began to check and prepare the AMU. This took longer than planned due to lack of hand and foot holds. He was unable to gain any leverage which made it hard to turn valves or basically any movement. All this was made worse when after sunset, his faceplate fogged up. His pulse soared to about 195 beats per minute. The flight surgeon on the ground feared he would lose consciousness.

At this point Cernan decided that there was considerable risk in continuing the EVA. He had poor visibility from within his spacesuit and had found that he could not move very well. He would have to disconnect himself from the umbilical that attached him to the Gemini (though would still be attached by a longer thinner lead), after he had connected himself to the AMU. But when he had finished with the AMU he would somehow have to take the thing off with one hand, while the other held onto the spacecraft. He decided to cancel the rest of the EVA, with Tom Stafford and the Mission Controllers concurring.

He managed to move himself back to the cockpit and Stafford held onto his legs to give him a rest. After trying to remove a mirror mounted to the side of the spacecraft, his suit cooling system overheated and his faceplate fogged up completely, denying him any vision. He and Stafford managed to get the hatch closed and repressurised. Cernan had spent 128 minutes outside the spacecraft.

Stafford has said in a 2001 interview that there was a real concern that Cernan would not be able to get back into the capsule. As it would not have been acceptable for Stafford to cut Cernan loose in orbit he stated that the plan was to make re-entry with the astronaut still attached by his umbilical. However, such an action would have resulted in the deaths of both men.

As well as the rendezvous and EVA, the other major objective of the mission was to carry out seven experiments. The only medical experiment was M-5, which measured the astronauts reactions to stress by measuring the intake and output of fluids before, during and after the flight.

Experiments

There were two photography experiments. S-1 hoped to image the Zodiacal light

Zodiacal light

Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptic or zodiac. Caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the zodiacal cloud, it is so faint that either moonlight or light pollution renders...

during an EVA, but this was changed to inside the spacecraft after the problems encountered by Cernan. And S-11 involved the astronauts trying to image the Earth's airglow in the atomic oxygen and sodium light spectra. They took 44 pictures as part of this experiment with three being of actual airglow.

S-10 had hoped to retrieve a Micrometeorite Collector from the ATDA, though this failed after they were unable to dock with it. They were able to image it though during their close approaches. Instead they were able to recover the collector from the Gemini spacecraft (S-12). D-12 also failed as it was an investigation of controlling the AMU.

The last experiment was D-14 which was UHF/VHF Polarization. This was an extendable antenna mounted on the adapter section at the rear of the spacecraft. It was hoped to obtain information about communication through the ionosphere. Six trials of this were performed but the antenna was broken by Cernan during his EVA.

Reentry

The day of the EVA was also their last in space. On their 45th revolution of the Earth, the crewmen fired the retrofire rockets that slowed them down so that they would reenter. This time the computer worked perfectly, meaning they landed only 700 meters from the planned landing site and were close enough to see the prime recovery ship, USS Wasp

USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp was one of 24 s built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous , which was sunk 15 September 1942...

. The splashdown happened closer to the recovery ship than any other manned spacecraft.

After the mission it was decided to set up a Mission Review committee to make sure that the objectives planned for each mission were realistic and that they had a direct benefit for Apollo.

The Gemini 9A mission was supported by the following U.S. Department of Defense resources: 11,301 personnel, 92 aircraft and 15 ships.

Insignia

The Gemini 9 patch is in the shape of a shield and shows the Gemini spacecraft docked to the Agena. There is a spacewalking astronaut, with his tether forming the shape of a number 9. Although the Gemini 9 mission was changed so that it docked with the ATDA, the patch was not changed. It is also not known whether Bassett and See had designed a patch for the mission as the original crew.

Spacecraft location

The spacecraft is on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

External links

NASA Gemini 9-A press kit - May 28, 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
Buy the AMU trainer: http://www.collectspace.com/buyspace/artifacts-gemini.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-047A
U.S. Space Objects Registry http://usspaceobjectsregistry.state.gov/search/index.cfm

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.