Gemini 2
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| Gemini 2 | |||||
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| Mission name | Gemini 2 | ||||
| Spacecraft name | Gemini 2 | ||||
| Crew size | 0 | ||||
| Call sign | Gemini 2 | ||||
| Booster | Titan II #62-12557 | ||||
| Launch pad | LC 19 (CCAF) | ||||
| Launch date | January 19, 1965 14:03:59.861 UTC |
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| Landing | January 19, 1965 14:22:14 UTC |
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| Mission duration | 0:18:16 | ||||
| Number of orbits | Suborbital | ||||
| Distance traveled | 3,422.4 kilometres (2,126.6 mi) | ||||
Crew photo
The crew for Gemini 3 practicing for their upcoming spaceflight during the Gemini 2 unmanned simulation.
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Gemini 2 was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an unmanned mission intended as a test flight of the Gemini spacecraft's heat shield. The flight was suborbital and was launched on a Titan II rocket. The mission's spacecraft later became the first to be flown into space twice when it was sent on an unmanned military mission.
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[edit] Mission history
The Titan II/Gemini launch vehicle was dismantled to protect it from two hurricanes in August and September of 1964. The second stage of the vehicle was taken down and stored in a hangar on 26 August 1964 in preparation for Hurricane Cleo, and the entire launch vehicle was subsequently dismantled and removed from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 19 in early September before Hurricane Dora passed over Cape Canaveral on September 9th. The Gemini launch vehicle was erected for the final time on 12 September 1964.
Many ground tests were carried out on the Gemini 2 and Titan rocket in November 1964. On November 24, Gemini-Titan (GT) 2 successfully completed the Wet Mock Simulated Launch, a full-scale countdown exercise which included propellant loading. Procedures for flight crew suiting and spacecraft ingress were practiced during simulated launch. The primary Gemini-Titan 3 flight crew donned the training suits and full biomedical instrumentation, assisted by the space suit bioinstrumentation and aeromedical personnel who would participate in the GT-3 launch operation. As a result of this practice operation, it was established that all physical examinations, bioinstrumentation sensor attachment, and suit donning would be done in the pilot ready room at Launch Complex 16.
Gemini 2 had been scheduled for launch December 9, 1964. On that date the countdown reached zero and the stage one engines were ignited. The launch vehicle's Malfunction Detection System detected technical problems due to a loss of hydraulic pressure and shut down the engines about one second after ignition.
On the second launch attempt on January 19, 1965, Gemini 2 lifted off from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy at 9:03:59 a.m. EST (14:03:59.861 UTC). It flew a ballistic suborbital arch over the Atlantic Ocean reaching a maximum altitude of 171.2 km. The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch retrorockets were fired. The spacecraft landed 3,422.4 km downrange from Cape Kennedy, Florida. The flight lasted 18 minutes 16 seconds. The landing was 26 km short of the planned impact point, and 84 km from the recovery aircraft carrier, the USS Lake Champlain. The spacecraft was brought aboard the carrier at 15:52 UT (10:52 a.m. EST). Most goals were achieved except the fuel cells had failed before liftoff and were turned off. The spacecraft cooling system temperature also was found to be too high. The Gemini 2 spacecraft was in excellent condition. Its heat shield and retrorockets functioned as expected. The Gemini 2 mission was supported by the following United States Department of Defense resources; 6,562 personnel, 67 aircraft and 16 ships.
Gemini 2 had flight instrumentation pallets installed in the crew cabin, similar to Gemini 1.
The Gemini 2 reentry module was refurbished and flown again on November 3, 1966 in a test flight for the United States Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. It was launched on a Titan IIIC rocket on 33-minute suborbital flight from LC-40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is the only Gemini spacecraft to have flown with U.S. Air Force insignia, but there is an unflown Gemini B spacecraft in USAF markings on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
[edit] Gallery
 Gemini 2 Instrument Pallets (NASA) |
 Gemini 2 spacecraft on display at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, Cape Canaveral, Florida. |
 Gemini 2 spacecraft on display at the Air Force Space and Missile Museum, Cape Canaveral, Florida. |
 Gemini 2 Reentry (NASA) |
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