'Serious Problems Here': Remembering Gemini VIII, OTD in 1966 (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on March 17th, 2021

OTD in 1966, Gemini VIII returned safely to Earth after one of the most harrowing emergencies ever experienced in space. […]

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Chimpanzee Work: 50 Years Since NASA Closed Out Project Gemini (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on November 6th, 2016

On Gemini XII, Buzz Aldrin became the first human being to embark on three discrete sessions of extravehicular activity. Photo Credit: NASA

Fifty years ago, next week, Gemini XII astronauts Jim Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin roared into orbit on a four-day mission which would demonstrate many of the capabilities that NASA needed […]

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'Send Up a Tanker': 50 Years Since the High-Flight of Gemini XI (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on September 11th, 2016

Tethering Gemini XI to Agena-XI was part of an experiment to evaluate the controllability of two vehicles in close proximity without control inputs. Photo Credit: NASA

Half a century ago, this coming week, on 12 September 1966, Gemini XI astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad and Dick Gordon launched from Earth within a two-second-long “window” […]

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'Would You Believe M=1?' 50 Years Since the High-Flight of Gemini XI (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on September 10th, 2016

Fifty years ago, this month, Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon’s Gemini XI mission would carry them to a peak 850 miles (1,370 km), which remains the highest altitude of any Earth-orbital mission. Only the Apollo lunar flights traveled higher on their expeditions to the Moon. Photo Credit: NASA

Not all astronauts get on […]

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'Otherwise Engaged': 50 Years Since the Double-Rendezvous, Double-Spacewalk Mission of Gemini X (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on July 16th, 2016

Six hours after launching from Cape Kennedy on 18 July 1966, Gemini X Command Pilot John Young and Pilot Mike Collins rendezvoused and docked with Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle (GATV)-5005. It was the first of a record-setting two rendezvous to be performed during their three-day mission. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Fifty years […]

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'Like an Angry Alligator': 50 Years Since the Challenging Mission of Gemini IX (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on June 4th, 2016

Gemini IX finally flew in June 1966, carrying astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan. Photo Credit: NASA

In many ways, NASA’s Gemini IX mission—tasked with spending three days in space, performing a lengthy spacewalk, a rendezvous, and a docking with an unmanned Agena target vehicle—was hamstrung by bad luck. First, in February 1966, […]

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'Tumbling End Over End': 50 Years Since the Traumatic Mission of Gemini VIII (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on March 13th, 2016

Gemini VIII’s nose edges into the docking collar of the Agena target. Although this mission achieved a successful rendezvous and docking, it fell victim to violent oscillations, due to a stuck-on thruster, which almost cost Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott their lives. Photo Credit: NASA

Fifty years ago, this week, NASA astronauts Neil […]

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Back to ‘33-6’: Expedition 33 Returns to 6-Person Strength

By Ben Evans, on October 25th, 2012

Clad in their bright blue flight suits, Soyuz TMA-06M crewmen (left to right) Oleg Novitsky, Kevin Ford and Yevgeni Tarelkin float inside the International Space Station’s Zvezda module earlier today. Their triumphant docking comes just days before the 12th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the international outpost. Photo Credit: NASA

Under the […]

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Big Returns From Little Hardware: NASA Selects Three CubeSats Missions

By Patricia Phillips, on August 15th, 2012

This image shows one of the proposed CubeSat’s being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Image Credit: NASA / JPL

NASA’s cutting-edge work in achieving bigger results from smaller hardware took another step forward as the agency selected three CubeSats missions to fly in 2014 and 2015. The missions will focus on […]

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