Chapter 4
A
Rendezvous in Space
Now
that two of Project Gemini's objective were accomplished (spacewalk and
eight-day
duration), or at least proven possible, the one objective thus far
untested was rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft. The crew
for the mission planned to try this for the first time, Gemini VI, was
Walter
Shirra, a Mercury veteran, and Thomas Stafford, another one
of the
"Next Nine".
Gemini VI's mission, specifically, was to rendezvous
and dock with
an Agena Target Vehicle. NASA chose Gemini
Agena Target Vehicle 5002 (GATV 5002) for the mission. GATV 5002
was to be launched atop an Atlas
rocket, followed by Gemini VI atop a Titan
II. The mission was to be a simple mission, only two days in
duration at the most, because the Gemini VI capsule (production number
GLV-6) did not have a fuel cell, so its mission duration was limited.
On October 25, 1965, Wally Schirra and Thomas
Stafford
crawled into the Gemini spacecraft. Gemini VI was perched atop a Titan
II standing on
Pad 19 at Cape Kennedy. There they were to await the launch of their
target vehicle.
Fifteen minutes later, the Atlas-Agena was launched.
All went well until staging. After the Agena's main engine fired,
ground control lost telemetry contact with the rocket. Air Force
radar reported that it was tracking five pieces of the Agena instead of
one. GATV 5002 had been destroyed.
Frustrated, Schirra and Stafford climbed out of
the capsule. Their mission had been "scrubbed".
Meanwhile,
Frank
Borman and James Lovell
were
preparing for the next Gemini mission, Gemini VII. Their objective
was to stay in space longer than anyone before: a record-breaking
fourteen
days in space, proving that even an extended mission to the moon was
possible.
Suddenly, a great idea materialized:
Why not
use a Gemini capsule for a target rather than an Agena? This
seemed a great idea, save one problem:
How does one launch two rockets off the same pad with a turn-around
time of less
than two weeks?
This broke down into several different problems. One
of these problems was the Titan II already on
Pad 19. The engine manufacturer, AeroJet-General, insisted that the
rocket remain in an upright position after all of its systems had been
checked out. This wasn't possible using the gantry, because the Titan
II would be lowered to a horizontal position. This problem was solved
quite simply by a Sikorky Skycrane helicopter. The Skycrane carried
the Titan II to Pad 20, which was not in use at the time.
The only time one manned spacecraft had
"rendezvoused"
with another was on July 12, 1962 when two Russian Vostok spacecraft
came
within four miles of each other in space. But that was a cheap form
of rendezvous. The two Vostoks were launched in precise orbits, without
the pilots having say as to where the spacecraft would go. Gemini
VI would do none of this; it would be placed in a different orbit and
change
orbits to rendezvous with Gemini VII.
On December 4, 1965 Frank Borman and Jim Lovell
crawled into the Gemini
VII capsule. At exactly 2:30 that afternoon, Gemini VII rose
from Pad 19. The Titan II booster performed flawlessly, and Gemini
VII was inserted into orbit.
Once in orbit, Borman turned Gemini VII around to
track the booster. He flew to within 15 meters of the Titan II's
upper stage. Fuel was leaking out of a broken fuel line, and was
crystallizing when it froze in the cold of space. After fifteen minutes
of station-keeping, Borman fired the thrusters and moved away.
The next day, more experiments were performed.
The astronauts also enjoyed and photographed the view.
Lovell became the
first person to take his space suit off in flight. This was quite
an ordeal in the cramped cockpit of the Gemini spacecraft. It too
Lovell almost an hour to doff his suit.
Frank Borman kept his suit on while Lovell had his
off. That way, in case of an emergency, Borman could help Lovell
get his suit on and not have to worry about himself.
But, while Lovell was enjoying the freedom of
wearing ordinary clothes in space, Borman was very
hot because his suit insulated him. Both of the astronauts wanted
to have their suits off at the same time, but Mission Control didn't
like
the idea.
After 146 hours in space, Lovell donned his suit
while Borman took his off. Never before had someone taken his
suit
off, then put it on again in flight.
Meanwhile, back at Cape Kennedy, Pad 19
was being hurriedly repaired
for the next launch. Workers quickly repaired the pad for the upcoming
launch of Gemini VI. Launching two rockets from the same pad in less
than two weeks was not a problem for the Russians, who had done it
before, but it was a major feat
for the Americans. The previous record for pad turnaround by NASA
was eighty days. Two launches within two weeks of each other was
a record accomplishment.
On Sunday, December 12, Wally Schirra and Thomas
Stafford crawled into
their Gemini capsule once again. This time they didn't have to
worry
about their target vehicle exploding, so they felt they had a better
chance
of succeeding.
At 9:54 am the Titan II roared
to life. Although the instruments inside the cockpit reported
a lift-off, Schirra didn't feel a thing. The Titan II's engines
stopped.
Thoughts flooded through Schirra's mind. If the booster had indeed
lifted off, then they would fall to the ground and explode. He wondered
whether or not to pull the ejection D-Ring located between his legs. If
he were in danger, and he didn't eject, then he would die. But,
if he wasn't in trouble and he did eject, then engineers would have to
replace the ejection seat and the rendezvous might be canceled.
In the end, Schirra made the right decision to stay
put. The false launch readings on the instrument panel had been caused
by a cord at the base of the rocket falling out too soon.
Even more frustrated than before, Schirra and
Stafford
crawled out of their capsule once again. They began to wonder if
they would ever launch.
At last, on Wednesday, December 15, 1965, Gemini
VI flew. Schirra,
anxious to get going, urged, "For the third time, go!" Whether or
not his urging helped, Gemini VI roared into space that day.
Once in orbit, Schirra and Stafford began making
orbit adjustments to catch up with the other spacecraft. They started
out in
a lower orbit than Gemini VII, so they were orbiting faster. The theory
was to keep going in a closer orbit to Gemini VII until both spacecraft
were in the same orbit, and hopefully near each other. Catching up to
Gemini VII took about five hours. When the two capsules could see each
other, the orbital adjustments were
over. From there, Schirra could use Gemini VI's thrusters to "fly"
to the awaiting Gemini VII.
Borman and Lovell enjoyed the fantastic fireworks
show coming from Gemini VI's thrusters. But, when Gemini VI turned
around they got another surprise. "You've got a lot of stuff all
around the back end of you," Borman informed Gemini VI. A few minutes
later Schirra told Gemini VII, "So do you." Electrical cords several
meters long trailed behind both spacecraft.
For more than four and a half hours the two Gemini
capsules floated near each other. Once they got as close as one third
of a meter (one foot). Schirra flew in circles around Gemini VII. He
decided that docking with a target would be no problem.
When the long day was almost over, Gemini VI turned
its blunt end forward and fired its braking rockets at minimal thrust.
Lovell and Borman said good-bye to their visitors and watched them drop
slowly into a lower orbit.
The next day, Stafford radioed Gemini VII, and
heard the astronauts
on board playing Jingle Bells. Schirra told Gemini VII, "Really good
job, Frank and Jim. We'll see you on the beach."
Gemini VI pointed its equipment end forward, the
automatic retrofire kicking in. They streaked through the
atmosphere
during reentry, coming down in view of the
recovery ship Wasp. This was the first landing to be seen
by live television crews and broadcast around the world.
After Gemini VI departed, Gemini VII was a much
more mundane and boring
place. All of the things they had done before, such as taking off
their suits, were done in anticipation of Gemini VI's arrival. But
now, with Gemini VI gone, they had nothing to anticipate. It
was a boring anti-climax. Borman and Lovell were looking forward
to going home.
On the fourteenth day. Lovell and Borman stowed
their
luggage away in storage bays along the inside of the capsule. They
were going home.
The four retrorockets fired at their preassigned
intervals. When it was over, Lovell remarked, "That's one big hurdle
over with, tiger!"
Borman responded, "You're right, ace."
Borman manually took Gemini VII down to Earth.
He used the blunt end of the spacecraft, the heatshield, to impart lift
of the capsule. That feature was designed into the Gemini capsule
so that the pilots could make precision landings, much unlike the
completely
ballistic landing in the Mercury capsule.
The pilots, accustomed to Zero-G for two weeks,
felt as if they weighed much more than they really did. Even so,
during reentry in the Gemini capsule, the G-Forces never went up to
more
than four G's. This was much better than the Mercury capsules, when
7.7 G's was normal.
The drogue parachute deployed well, followed by
the main chute. Gemini VII landed near the recovery ship
Wasp.
Less than half an hour after landing, Borman and Lovell were greeted
aboard
the Wasp. Their mission was accomplished.
NASA knew that a rendezvous in space was possible.
But what about docking? Could two spacecraft actually connect in
space? NASA scheduled its next mission, Gemini VIII, to find out.