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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 569 (September 19, 2015)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3691
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-19-2015 03:10 AM
   
 Recovery of a section of 17 feet of the first stage of Gemini 5's Titan II booster by the Navy destroyer USS Dupont, 450 miles northeast of Cape Kennedy. Gemini 5 was launched on August 21, 1965. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1242
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 09-19-2015 07:45 AM
Another very unique image Ed.I had always seen the other view of the crew bringing/lashing the Titan II section near the fantail of the USS DuPont (DD-941). This one is new to me. Thanks. As info, the DuPont was commissioned in 1957, decommissioned in 1983, struck from the Naval inventory in 1990 and scrapped in 1999. She was a Forrest-Sherman class destroyer with a crew of 218 sailors and 15 officers. |
Tom
Member Posts: 1707
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 09-19-2015 01:35 PM
Great photo, Ed. Would you know if the first stage was recovered from any other Gemini flight? Thank you! |
heng44
Member Posts: 3691
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 09-19-2015 01:37 PM
I don't think so, Tom.
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Headshot
Member Posts: 1242
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 09-19-2015 04:20 PM
According to all the literature that I have come across, Ed is correct. No part of any other Gemini-Titan launch vehicle has been recovered. There is a picture of the recovered GT-5 section as it appears today in the Gemini Owners' Workshop Manual by Woods and Harland. It is not a pretty sight. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 51143
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-19-2015 05:05 PM
Interestingly, there was at least some question about exactly what was recovered by the USS Du Pont, as the Associated Press reported on Aug. 29, 1965: The large rocket section recovered at sea last Saturday may not be, as first suspected, part of the Titan 2 that boosted the Gemini 5 spacecraft.John Stonesifer, head of the Gemini recovery team aboard the Lake Champlain in the Atlantic, said it more likely is part of an Atlas-Centaur rocket fired recently from Cape Kennedy, Fla. A recovery fleet destroyer, the Du Pont, retrieved the section from the Atlantic. That report was followed up by a confirmation from the Martin Company. The large rocket section recovered from the Atlantic Ocean last Saturday is definitely part of the Titan 2 that boosted the Gemini 5 spacecraft, a Martin Co. spokesman said today. The rocket was originally identified as the Titan 2 after recovery, but some doubt arose yesterday. A recovery team official said it was more likely part of an Atlas-Centaur rocket recently fired from Cape Kennedy. The spokesman for the Martin Co., which made the Titan 2, said this doubt was dispelled after a study of an Associated Press wirephoto showing the rocket being lifted from the ocean and placed on the recovery fleet destroyer Dupont. "No doubt about it," he said. "That's our bird." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 51143
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-19-2015 05:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Headshot:
No part of any other Gemini-Titan launch vehicle has been recovered.
A vintage Air Force Space Museum presentation to the chief of NASA's Mission Support Office would suggest otherwise: This piece of metal is an authentic bit of space age history. It was taken from the first stage booster for Gemini-Titan 10, which was recovered down the Air Force Eastern Test Range when it separated on schedule 2 1/2 minutes after launch. |
Jonnyed
Member Posts: 610
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014
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posted 09-19-2015 07:12 PM
Anyone know the final disposition or disposal of this piece? Was it cut up and scrapped? |
Michael Davis
Member Posts: 561
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 09-20-2015 10:06 AM
In the 1980s the stage was an outdoor display at the Space and Rocket Center in Alabama. I recall seeing it and thinking it was odd to find a relic exposed to the elements. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1242
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 09-20-2015 05:00 PM
With the engines and the lower half of the first stage gone, the remaining portion of the Titan II was identified as the one that launched Gemini V by the nameplates (presumably with serial numbers) on the two Giannini rate gyro packages affixed to the upper dome of the oxidizer tank. These two packages can barely be discerned in the picture, that I mentioned in a post above, of this section lying in the storage yard in Huntsville.I am curious how that recovered piece of the GT-X launch vehicle was confirmed? I had read that the first stage violently exploded/ruptured during staging, but had not read that any pieces were recovered. Does the article describe the size of the piece? Is there a picture? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 51143
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-20-2015 05:16 PM
You can see the GT-10 presentation on page 57 of the October 2015 RR Auction catalog. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1242
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 09-21-2015 07:15 AM
I discovered this interesting list of spacecraft debris while searching for more info about the material recovered from the Gemini-Titan 10 booster.The lack of details is driving me nuts, a very short trip according to my wife. How much material was recovered? What did the piece(s) look like before they were cut into little rectangles? How was the source verified? What ship made the recovery? etc. Thus far, I have not located any contemporary accounts of GT-10 booster material being recovered and the account accompanying the piece being auctioned has not provided any solid leads. |
mach3valkyrie
Member Posts: 742
From: Albany, Oregon
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 09-21-2015 02:49 PM
How was it that the USS Dupont was able to sight the rocket stage? Did they have it visually when it hit the water or a radar track? Or right place, right time? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3832
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 10-01-2023 12:11 PM
Here is some film footage of the USS Du Pont with the Titan II booster section from Gemini 5 onboard. There also appears to be a Gemini capsule in front of the booster section. The capsule must be a boilerplate.
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Axman
Member Posts: 180
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 10-01-2023 01:09 PM
I don't see any capsule in front of the burnt out first stage. I think you are misinterpreting ship deck equipment.(And the first stage of GT-5 couldn't possibly accommodate a boilerplate capsule anyway!!!) |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3832
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 10-01-2023 01:54 PM
There is a boilerplate capsule there. It is still hooked up to the crane. The boilerplate was most likely used for recovery training. |
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