Steps towards space

Abstract

During 1961, as we have seen, NASA began considering the possibility of sending a suitably protected astronaut outside their spacecraft into the vacuum of space on Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). That same year, plans to develop an advanced two-man version of the Mercury spacecraft were being explored under what was then called Mercury Mark II. At this time, the two avenues of study were not formally linked, and though it would not be long before they were, the primary reason for creating what became Project Gemini was to investigate other areas of space flight. These included space rendezvous and extended duration missions, key areas that would be required for regular spaceflight operations.

“I think Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were really one program.

You know, the same guys pretty much flew them, they were all exploratory.

Every flight was an engineering test flight.

You were always getting into something that nobody had ever done before.”

James A. McDivitt, NASA Oral History, June 29, 1999.