posted 08-11-2024 08:46 AM               

Space Cover 766: Gemini 5 USS DuPont And The 1st Recovered Booster

I think it is safe to say that we are all impressed when SpaceX or Blue Origin is able to land and recover their respective 1st stage boosters, refurbish them and relaunch them. It is efficient and more importantly a great way to save a lot of money. Believe it or not, it was even proposed to have the S-1C first stage of the Saturn-V be able to return to earth to be reused again. Unfortunately, the technology wasn't quite there yet nor was there time to develop the technology if we were to beat the Soviets to the moon.

Believe it or not though, a Falcon 9 stage was not the first booster stage recovered after a launch. On August 21, 1965 Gemini 5 was launched on an eight-day mission to prove that a crew could survive in space for the time it took for a flight to the moon and back. Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad had a highly successful flight after a rough beginning with some balky fuel cells and proved that a crew could easily survive longer than a week in space.

Early in the mission a plane spotted what looked like a piece of the expended Titan-II booster floating in the Atlantic Ocean. USS DuPont, one of the secondary recovery ships assigned to the mission happened to be nearby. The ship steamed over and recovered what turned out to be the upper portion of the Titan-II's first stage. This remains the only portion of any launch vehicle from the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo programs that has been recovered and currently resides at historic Hanger-C which is part of the Space Force Museum at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The cover pictured above was on board USS DuPont during the Gemini 5 mission. Though the Titan-II stage was recovered early in the mission, the cover is postmarked on the day of the Gemini 5 recovery which was accomplished by USS Lake Champlain. The cover has the Beck printed cachet. Though USS DuPont was not called upon to recover the Gemini 5 crew, the ship and this cover was present for an interesting and historic recovery. What covers do you have in your collections that have an usual connection?

On a side note, as a volunteer docent at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum I have been able to examine the recovered Titan-II booster in Hanger-C. The pictures show how the booster currently sits in Hanger-C. It is certainly an interesting piece and in fairly good shape for surviving a launch and fall back to the ocean when it wasn't designed to!

posted 08-11-2024 12:58 PM               

If I recall, there had been a couple of related topics here on cS, not just for GT-5, but also GT-10. Note this thread that I reported of a later recovered Gemini Titan II first stage oxidizer tank from Gemini 10 in July 1966.

I have the same Cape Air Force certificate of an authorized rocket vehicle relic (see prior post scan) of two types known.

Film footage of GT-10's (LV Serial #12565) launch vehicle revealed that the first stage oxidizer tank ruptured shortly after staging and released a cloud of N2O4. As first stage telemetry had been terminated at staging, there was no data other than photographic and visual evidence to go by.

Are there any Gemini 10 recovery ship covers noted for this unusual oxidizer tank pickup at sea? I only have the standard GT-5/USS Du Pont (but none for GT-10) Beck rubber stamp cachet cover issues.