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[i]A key objective of Project Gemini is to advance the program's transition to Apollo, to send astronauts to the moon and return them safely to Earth, photo credit NASA.[/i] [b]Space Cover #417: Early Gemini Space Covers[/b] NASA Director Robert Gilruth calls it "Two-Man Mercury" or Mercury Mark II, but NASA Headquarters employee Alex Nagy wins the ad hoc naming contest and a bottle of Scotch whiskey by naming it Gemini. NASA's new Project is aptly named Gemini for its two-man astronaut crew, anticipated rendezvous missions in space, and a distinct zodiac relationship to Mercury. Alex Nagy thinks, "Even the astronomical symbol for Gemini fits the former Mark II designation. The Clyde Sarzin cover pictured is postmarked on the first flight of the Titan II rocket launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida, March 16, 1962. This flight experiences severe longitudinal oscillation termed pogo effect and would have endangered the lives of Gemini astronauts on an actual flight. The Gemini Program Planning Board states that Titan II problems need to be addressed with utmost urgency. A Sarzin cover for several new space projects including Project Gemini is displayed above for a Titan II rocket test, September 12, 1962, at Cape Canaveral. A subsequent Gemini man-rating rocket test for Titan II is evaluated with poor results on December 6, 1962. Could the pogo effect be fixed, and would Titan II be ready in time? Many space collectors consider this the starting cover for a Project Gemini collection, but as we can see, there are several earlier Gemini related covers that could claim this honor. The Titan II flight of November 1, 1963, is listed as a research and development flight, having pogo suppression fixes installed on both the rocket fuel oxidizer and fuel lines to dampen longitudinal oscillation. Results of this successful flight show a reading of only 0.11 due to these important engineering changes. The Titan II's pogo effect finally registers well below the 0.25's that NASA requires for astronaut safety. A Robert Rank Space Velvet cover is pictured for the unmanned paraglider flight of May 28, 1964 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The cover also has the second unmanned Gemini Titan-2 flight cancel of January 19, 1965. The spacecraft now shows some striking differences including a redesigned Gemini spacecraft in the lower part of the cachet much different that the spacecraft used for Project Mercury. This attractive Rank Space Velvet cover is from the author's collection.
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