Abstract
“On the basis of first-look information,
we foresee no trouble that will hold up
the first manned mission.”
Charles W. Mathews,
Gemini Program Manager,
GT-2 post-flight comments, January 19, 1965.
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- 1.
This test flight was being closely monitored by the USAF as well as NASA and its contractors, because of the plans to use the Gemini spacecraft as the primary crew return vehicle for their astronauts flying classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory missions.
- 2.
At the time – and for many years afterwards – it was thought that Yuri Gagarin had landed in his Vostok at the end of his flight. This was a necessity in order to claim the FAI record, which stipulated that a pilot must launch and land in the same vehicle. In fact, Gagarin had parachuted out of the capsule, as had all the subsequent Vostok cosmonauts.
- 3.
The new facilities at MSC are explained in the next title in this series, Gemini 4: An Astronaut Steps into the Void.
- 4.
Since 1963, solo spaceflights in Earth orbit have been relatively few in number. Over 50 years after Vostok 5 flew, Bykovsky still holds the record of 4 days 23 hours 6 minutes for a solo flight and this is unlikely to be surpassed in the near future. Eight Apollo Command Module pilots completed a period of solo flight, from Apollo 9 in Earth orbit followed by Apollo 10–12 and then 14–17 in lunar orbit, with the record being held by Apollo 16 CMP Ken Mattingly at 81 hours 27 minutes 47 seconds in lunar orbit in April 1972. It would be more than 31 years before the next solo flight, back in Earth orbit, during the first manned Chinese flight completed by Liwei Yang aboard Shenzhou 5 in October 2003. That flight lasted 21 hours 36 minutes.
- 5.
President Johnson (Democrat) won 61.1 percent of the popular vote on November 3, 1964, beating his rival Barry Goldwater (Republican) who gained just 38.5 percent.
References
Gemini 2 Press Kit, December 4, 1964, NASA News Release No. 64-296
Information courtesy Manfred ‘Dutch’ C. von Ehrenfried, via email, February 26, 2017
Cape Kennedy Spared Cleo’s Fury; GT-2 Delay May Be Extended, Space News Roundup, MSC, Volume 3, No. 23, September 2, 1964, p. 1
A far more detailed account of the life and loss of Ted Freeman can be found in A Routine Training Flight by Colin Burgess in Fallen Astronauts, Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon, Colin Burgess and Kate Doolan, with Bert Vis, University of Nebraska Press, 2003, pp. 1-31.
MSC Crew at Cape Tests GT-2 Operational Procedures, Space News Roundup, Volume 3, No. 21, August 5, 1964, p. 2.
MCC at Cape Kennedy Readied for Gemini, MSC Space News Roundup, Volume 3, No. 22, August 19, 1964, p. 5
On the Shoulders of Titans, Chapter 9: A Taste of Success, NASA SP -4203, 1977, Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood, p. 206.
Titan Shut Down Postpones GT-2 Flight ‘Till Early 1965, Space News Roundup, Volume 4 No. 5, December 23, 1964, p. 2.
Flight: My Life in Mission Control, Christopher Kraft and James Schefter, 2002 edition, p. 205.
Engineers Explain Cause of GT-2 Abort in December’s Unsuccessful Launch Attempt, MSC Roundup, Volume 4, No. 8, February 3, 1965, p. 5; On the Shoulders of Titans, p. 207; also, GT-2 Launch Attempt Summary, Appendix B, Section 13, Gemini Program Mission Report, GT-2, February 1965, MSC-G-R-65-1.
Gemini, Virgil I ‘Gus’ Grissom, Macmillan, 1968, p. 4
Failure is not an Option, Gene Kranz, Simon & Schuster, 2000, p. 126
Manned Space Flight Network Performance Analysis For the GT-2 Mission, Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, May 14, 1965, X-552-65-204 (NASA TMX-55227).
www.oxforddictionaries.com , 2017
NASA Project Gemini Familiarization Manual, Long Range and Modified Configurations, SEDR 300, Volume 1, McDonnell September 30, 1965; also, Gemini Design Features, William J. Blatz, Senior Project Engineer, Gemini, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, 1963 document, and NASA Gemini 1965-1966 Owners Workshop Manual, David Woods and David M. Harland, Haynes Publishing, 2015.
Further background information on the naval recovery of Gemini 2 can be found in: Task Force 140 Makes Test Run: Picking up Gemini, in ALL HANDS, The Bureau of Naval Personnel, Career Publication, April 1965, Number 579, pp. 10-15.
Gemini Program Mission Report GT-2, February 1965, MSC-G-R-65-1.
Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965, pp. 23-24
MSFN Performance Analysis GT-2, May 14, 1965, p. 48.
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Shayler, D.J. (2018). Ramming the atmosphere. In: Gemini Flies!. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68142-9_3
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