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Author
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Topic: Gemini 7: onboard footage
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-25-2018 04:16 AM
  
Gemini 7 onboard footage from the National Archives. Lots of 16mm film footage of the tumbling second stage booster. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-25-2018 08:40 AM
Nice find! This made me wonder whether any Gemini crew ever took a still photo of their Gemini booster-rocket in orbit. No such photo appears in "Spaceshots and Snapshots of Mercury and Gemini" by Bisney & Pickering, so I assume not. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-25-2018 09:42 AM
From the Gemini 7 Mission Report:
After completing the turnaround maneuver, the spacecraft was north of the second stage and about 100 feet from it. The second stage was tumbling and venting profusely from what appeared to be a vent valve at the base of the fuel tank ...No difficulty was encountered in maintaining position with the second stage of the vehicle. The distance from the spacecraft to the vehicle varied from approximately 60 to 150 feet. The venting fuel from the second stage caused it to translate as well as tumble, and more spacecraft fuel was expended than originally planned to maintain position. An added problem to station keeping was the setting sun which near the end of the daylight phase made viewing the second stage very difficult. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3160
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-28-2018 11:00 AM
I assume the implication is that it would have been difficult (certainly on Gemini 7) to catch a decent view of the booster for still photography. Certainly, movie footage shows clearly what might be quite indistinct in a single image.That reminds me that I have seen at least one image of an Atlas booster after its Mercury capsule had separated, but I think it was taken by an automatic camera on one of the early unmanned tests. |
SkyMan1958
Member Posts: 880
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 08-28-2018 12:09 PM
It was taken on Mercury-Atlas 5. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 08-28-2018 12:41 PM
MA-5 frame 020 in the March To The Moon gallery is one view of the booster.Frame 027 managed to catch the booster and the moon in the same shot. |
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