Description
Book SynopsisAn insight into NASA's Gemini spacecraft, the precursor to Apollo and the key to the Moon NASA's Gemini space flight programme followed on from the pioneering Mercury missions which put the first US astronauts into space.
Table of ContentsPublished to mark the 50th anniversary of the first mission of the Gemini programme in 1965 Explanations of the spacecraft's systems - Titan II rocket launch vehicle, guidance an navigation, environmental control, reaction control and propulsion, re-entry and Earth landing, communications and electrical power. Techniques and accomplishments of the programme - controlled rendezvous and docking, use of a docked rocket to achieve extreme altitude, spacewalking, controlled re-entry, long-duration flight, mission control. The many 'firsts' accomplished during Gemini missions - first US two-man spacecraft, first US spacewalk, first manoeuvre in a manned spacecraft, first in-flight computer, first in-flight radar, first rendezvous, first docking, first controlled re-entry, first fuel cells for electrical power, firsts optical navigation in space. A wealth of artwork, photography and illustrations from the NASA archives.
