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  Photo of the week 397 (June 2, 2012)

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Author Topic:   Photo of the week 397 (June 2, 2012)
heng44
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Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 06-01-2012 03:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

After the historic Gemini 6/7 space rendezvous, Gemini 6 command pilot Wally Schirra uses paper plates to play the role of a deck landing officer at the Cape Kennedy crew quarters during a reunion with Gemini 7 crewmembers Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. Watching the antics is Gemini 6 pilot Tom Stafford.

Ed Hengeveld

onesmallstep
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Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 06-01-2012 04:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for onesmallstep   Click Here to Email onesmallstep     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice candid shot. I see Stafford, just over Schirra's shoulder, is aiming a flashlight in the Gemini 7 crew's direction while Wally acts the part of an LSO or 'Paddles'. Maybe Stafford was imitating a Fresnel Lens optical landing system, already in use aboard US carriers instead of the traditional LSOs with canvas paddles? If so, even Navy man Lovell wouldn't be able to decipher if Wally meant 'Wave off' or 'Cut' with Air Force man Stafford shining his light around!

moorouge
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Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 06-03-2012 06:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by onesmallstep:
Maybe Stafford was imitating a Fresnel Lens optical landing system, already in use aboard US carriers instead of the traditional LSOs with canvas paddles?

Another British invention that was left to our trans-Atlantic cousins to develop.

garymilgrom
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Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 06-03-2012 06:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for garymilgrom   Click Here to Email garymilgrom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Easy to be happy when you didn't have to spend 14 days inside the Gemini capsule!

Great to see Wally so happy and smiling.

LM-12
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Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 06-04-2014 02:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Launch day photo S65-56159 shows Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford at breakfast enjoying some cartoons from their fellow astronauts. One of the cartoons seems to show Gemini 7 waving them in with paddles for rendezvous.

Perhaps Schirra had the cartoon in mind when the post-flight photo was taken.

All times are CT (US)

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