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  Help with Gemini spacecraft identification

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Author Topic:   Help with Gemini spacecraft identification
Go4Launch
Member

Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 02-27-2016 03:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
On Nov. 16, 1963, President Kennedy was shown a Gemini of some type at Complex 37 (please see photos below). Can anyone help identify or provide more information about this particular "spacecraft?"

I suspect it may be one of several static test articles McDonnell provided, since it looks a little more "built out" than the steel-shell type craft that seems more common with boilerplates (I don't think, however, it is static article No. 5, which seems to have stayed at the Manned Spacecraft Center for tests in Galveston Bay). Thanks for any help.

NukeGuy
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Posts: 55
From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 02-27-2016 06:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NukeGuy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Is that George Low with Gus Grissom?

space1
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Posts: 861
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 02-27-2016 06:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for space1   Click Here to Email space1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think this is more than a static vehicle. The reentry module exterior is thoroughly fitted out with flight rated equipment. For example, the hatch is quite complete. The rendezvous and recovery section is a very early version with only one drogue parachute.

I don't know which vehicles may have had this version. I am guessing this is either Gemini 1, or a Gemini checkout vehicle.

If I'm not mistaken the Gemini checkout vehicle (I don't recall its correct name) is now at the Cosmosphere.

Go4Launch
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Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 02-27-2016 08:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by NukeGuy:
Is that George Low with Gus Grissom?
Yes it is George Low.

Gemini 1 did arrive on October 4, and its instrument pallets were removed on October 9 and reinstalled November 26.

NukeGuy
Member

Posts: 55
From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 02-28-2016 08:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NukeGuy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
After leaving NASA, George Low became the president of the university where I studied engineering. He (or an autograph machine) signed my diploma. I would remember seeing him in the student union having a cup of coffee and reading the paper. Very quiet and unassuming.

He passed on a few years after I graduated. None of the presidents who followed were fit to even be in his shadow.

Go4Launch
Member

Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 03-01-2016 08:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I like the "only one drogue parachute" clue. All of the Gemini Familiarization Manuals I can find online, however, are the later versions -- and I'm not sure if the first versions would offer any information about s/c No. 1. I'd welcome any quick research by anyone who might have access to that manual.

Go4Launch
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Posts: 549
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 03-01-2016 12:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Go4Launch   Click Here to Email Go4Launch     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have now confirmed this is Gemini 1. Thanks to space1 for the suggestion.

Ronpur
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Posts: 1220
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012

posted 03-01-2016 09:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ronpur   Click Here to Email Ronpur     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Did this Gemini end up flying with an all white adapter, or did it get the black tape stripes applied?

Lou Chinal
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Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 03-04-2016 03:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lou Chinal   Click Here to Email Lou Chinal     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The black tape was applied just a few days before launch. I have to agree this is spacecraft no. 1.

taneal1
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Posts: 237
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 04-26-2017 12:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for taneal1   Click Here to Email taneal1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Go4Launch:
I like the "only one drogue parachute" clue.
To add a little detail and background info:

Early in the Gemini program it was believed that the RCS would "handle" stabilization until the main chute was deployed. For whatever reason(s), a separate drogue was added.

The Gemini 2 spacecraft also flew without the drogue. The "Changes" document for Gemini 3 states that the first (Gemini) drogue chute was flown on Gemini 3.
What is shown in the photo is actually the container for the pilot parachute which pulls the main parachute from its deployment bag.

A line drawing of the Gemini 1 spacecraft depicts a single container in a position identical to the one in this photo. As decided above this has to be Gemini 1.

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