Gemini Space Missions

Gemini Programme Insignia

Gemini 3 - SC3/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12558
March 23, 1965, 14:24:00 UTC
~4 hours, 52 minutes, 31 seconds
March 23, 1965, 19:16:31 UTC
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom
John W. Young
Low Earth orbits

Gemini IX-A June 3, 1966

Gemini X June 18, 1966

Gemini 11 Sept 12, 1966

Science Research

Science Research

Science Theories

Designed by Nigel G Wilcox

Pages within this section: Gemini 1-12

Pages within this section:

Project Gemini (IPA: /ˈdʒɛmɪni/) was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966.

Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. In doing so, it allowed the United States to catch up and overcome the lead in human spaceflight capability the Soviet Union had obtained in the early years of the Space Race, by demonstrating: mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon; methods of performing extra-vehicular activity (EVA) without tiring; and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft. This left Apollo free to pursue its prime mission without spending time developing these techniques.

All Gemini flights were launched from Launch Complex 19 (LC-19) at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida. Their launch vehicle was the Gemini–Titan II, a modified Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Gemini was the first program to use the newly built Mission Control Center at the Houston Manned Spacecraft Center for flight control.

The astronaut corps that supported Project Gemini included the "Mercury Seven", "The New Nine", and the 1963 astronaut class. During the program, three astronauts died in air crashes during training, including both members of the prime crew for Gemini 9. This mission was flown by the backup crew.

Gemini was robust enough that the United States Air Force planned to use it for the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, which was later canceled. Gemini's chief designer, Jim Chamberlin, also made detailed plans for cislunar and lunar landing missions in late 1961. He believed Gemini spacecraft could fly in lunar operations before Project Apollo, and cost less. NASA's administration did not approve those plans. In 1969, McDonnell-Douglas proposed a "Big Gemini" that could have been used to shuttle up to 12 astronauts to the planned space stations in the Apollo Applications Project (AAP). The only AAP project funded was Skylab – which used existing spacecraft and hardware – thereby eliminating the need for Big Gemini.

Gemini 2 (Gemini-Titan 2; GT-2) was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini, and was launched and recovered on January 19, 1965. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an uncrewed mission intended as a test flight of the Gemini spacecraft. Unlike Gemini 1, which was placed into orbit, Gemini 2 made a suborbital flight, primarily intended to test the spacecraft's heat shield. It was launched on a Titan II GLV rocket. The spacecraft used for the Gemini 2 mission was later refurbished into the Gemini B configuration, and was subsequently launched on another suborbital flight, along with OPS 0855, as a test for the US Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory. Gemini spacecraft no. 2 was the first craft to make more than one spaceflight since the X-15, and the only one until Space Shuttle Columbia flew its second mission in 1981; it would also be the only space capsule to be reused until Crew Dragon Endeavour was launched a second time in 2021.

Gemini 1 was the first mission in NASA's Gemini program. An uncrewed test flight of the Gemini spacecraft, its main objectives were to test the structural integrity of the new spacecraft and modified Titan II launch vehicle. It was also the first test of the new tracking and communication systems for the Gemini program and provided training for the ground support crews for the first crewed missions.

Originally scheduled for launch in December 1963, difficulties in the development of both the spacecraft and its booster caused four months of delay. Gemini 1 was launched from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy (now Canaveral), Florida on April 8, 1964. The spacecraft stayed attached to the second stage of the rocket. The mission lasted for three orbits while test data were taken, but the spacecraft stayed in space for almost 64 orbits until its orbit decayed due to atmospheric drag. The spacecraft was not intended to be recovered, and holes were drilled through its heat shield to ensure it would not survive re-entry.

April 8, 1964, 16:01:01.69 UTC

Uncontrolled reentry
Decay dateApril 12, 1964, 15:00:00 UTC

Gemini 1 Test flight

January 19, 1965, 14:03:59.861 UTC
January 19, 1965, 14:22:14 UTC

Gemini 4 - SC4/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12559
June 3, 1965, 15:15:59 UTC
~4 days, 1 hour, 56 minutes, 12 seconds
June 7, 1965, 17:12:11 UTC
James A. McDivitt
Edward H. White II
Extravehicular activity, outside of Gemini IV

Gemini 5 - SC5/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12560
August 21, 1965, 13:59:59 UTC
~7 days, 22 hours, 55 minutes, 14 seconds
August 29, 1965, 12:55:13 UTC
L. Gordon Cooper Jr.
Charles Conrad Jr.
Duration, set on August 26, 1965, by breaking the Soviet Union's previous record set by Vostok 5 in 1963

Gemini 6A - SC6/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12561
December 15, 1965, 13:37:26 UTC
~1 day, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 24 seconds
December 16, 1965, 15:28:50 UTC
Walter M. Schirra Jr.
Thomas P. Stafford
Achieved the first crewed rendezvous with another spacecraft, its sister Gemini 7

Gemini 7 - SC7/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12562
December 4, 1965, 19:30:03 UTC
~13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes, 1 second
December 18, 1965, 14:05:04 UTC
Frank F. Borman II
James A. Lovell Jr.
Spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.

Gemini 8 - SC8/Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12563
December 4, 1965, 19:30:03 UTC
~10 hours, 41 minutes, 26 seconds
March 17, 1966, 03:22:28 UTC
Neil A. Armstrong
David R. Scott
The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required an immediate abort of the mission.

Gemini 9 - SC9/Titan II GLV, s/n #62-12564
June 3, 1966, 13:39:33 UTC
~3 days, 20 minutes, 50 seconds
June 6, 1966, 14:00:23 UTC
Thomas P. Stafford
Eugene A. Cernan

Extravehicular activity, during which it was planned for him to demonstrate free flight in a self-contained rocket pack, the USAF Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. He was unable to accomplish this due to stress, fatigue, and overheating.

The original crew for Gemini 9, command pilot Elliot See and pilot Charles Bassett, were killed in a crash on February 28, 1966 while flying a T-38 jet trainer to the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, Missouri to inspect their spacecraft. Their deaths promoted the backup crew, Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan, to the prime crew. The mission was renamed Gemini 9A after the original May 17 launch was scrubbed

Gemini 10 - SC10/Titan II GLV, s/n #62-12565
July 18, 1966, 22:20:26 UTC
~2 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds
July 21, 1966, 21:07:05 UTC
John W. Young
Michael Collins
Flown by John Young and future Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, Collins became the first person to perform two extravehicular activities.

Gemini 11 - SC11/Titan II GLV,
September 12, 1966, 14:42:26 UTC
~2 days 23 hours 17 minutes 9 seconds
September 15, 1966, 13:59:35 UTC
Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr.
Richard F. Gordon Jr.
Performed the first direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle, docking with it 1 hour 34 minutes after launch; used the Agena rocket engine to achieve a record high-apogee Earth orbit; and created a small amount of artificial gravity by spinning the two spacecraft connected by a tether. Gordon also performed two extra-vehicular activities for a total of 2 hours 41 minutes.

Gemini 12 - SC11/Titan II GLV,
November 11, 1966, 20:46:33 UTC
~3 days, 22 hours, 34 minutes, 31 seconds
November 15, 1966, 19:21:04 UTC
James A. Lovell Jr
Edwin E. Aldrin Jr
Gemini XII marked a successful conclusion of the Gemini program, achieving the last of its goals by successfully demonstrating that astronauts can effectively work outside of spacecraft. This was instrumental in paving the way for the Apollo program to achieve its goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s.

Gemini 3 March 23, 1965

Gemini IV June 3, 1965

Gemini V August 21,1965

Gemini VI-A December 15, 1965

Gemini VII December 4, 1965

Gemini VIII March, 1966

Gemini IX-A June 3, 1966

Gemini 11 Sept 12, 1966

Gemini 12 Nov 11, 1966

NASA named the program GEMINI after the twin stars Castor and Pollox, one of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac.

The Gemini missions had the following challenges to meet prior to attempting lunar missions:

Rendezvous and docking
Long duration flights
Multiple-hour work outside the spacecraft
Advanced, reliable on-board flight systems
Training of flight and ground crews.
It was during the Gemini Program that the United States caught up with and surpassed the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon.