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Gemini 7
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name	Gemini 7
Spacecraft name	Gemini 7
Spacecraft mass	8,080 pounds (3,670 kg)
Crew size	2
Call sign	Gemini 7
Launch vehicle	Titan II #62-12562
Launch pad	LC-19 (Cape Kennedy Air Force Station)
Launch date	December 4, 1965 19:30:03 UTC
Landing	December 18, 1965 14:05:04 UTC 25°25.1′N 70°6.7′W / 25.4183°N 70.1117°W / 25.4183; -70.1117 (Gemini 7 splashdown)
Mission duration	13d/18:35:01
Number of orbits	206
Apogee	117.2 nautical miles (217.1 km)
Perigee	87.3 nautical miles (161.7 km)
Orbital period	89.39 min.
Orbital inclination	28.89°
Distance traveled	4,876,000 nautical miles (9,030,000 km)
Crew photo
(L-R) Lovell, Borman
Related missions
Previous Subsequent Gemini 5 Gemini 6A

Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time (includes X-15 flights over 100 kilometers (330,000 ft)). The crew of Frank F. Borman, II and James A. Lovell, Jr spent nearly 14 days in space making a total of 206 orbits, and were joined on orbit by the Gemini-6A flight which performed the first rendezvous maneuver of manned spacecraft.

Crew[link]

Backup crew[link]

Mission parameters[link]

• Mass: 8,080 pounds (3,670 kg)
• Perigee: 87.3 nautical miles (161.7 km)
• Apogee: 177.2 nautical miles (328.2 km)
• Inclination: 28.89°
• Period: 89.39 min

Stationkeeping with GT-6A[link]

• Start: December 15, 1965 19:33 UTC
• End: December 16, 1965 00:52 UTC
• Gemini 6 and 7

Objectives[link]

Gemini 7 was originally intended to fly after Gemini 6, but the original Gemini 6 mission was cancelled after the failure during launch of the Agena Target Vehicle with which it was meant to rendezvous and dock. The objective of rendezvous was so important, that it was decided to fly Gemini 6 at the same time as Gemini 7, using the latter as the rendezvous target.

The original mission of Gemini 7 changed little with these new plans. It was always planned to be a long duration flight, investigating the effects of fourteen days in space on the human body. This doubled the length of time that anyone had been in space and stood as the longest spaceflight duration record for five years.

This 14 day mission required NASA to solve problems of long-duration space flight, not the least of which was stowage (the crew had practiced stuffing waste paper behind their seats before the flight). Timing their workday to match that of ground crews, both men worked and slept at the same time. Gemini VII flew the most experiments – 20 – of any Gemini mission, including studies of nutrition in space. The astronauts also evaluated a new lightweight spacesuit, which proved uncomfortable if worn for a long time in Gemini's hot, cramped quarters. The high point of the mission was the rendezvous with Gemini VI. But the three days that followed were something of an endurance test, and both astronauts, heeding Pete Conrad's Gemini V advice, brought books along. Gemini VII was the longest space flight in U.S. history until the Skylab missions of the 1970s.

Flight[link]

Their launch and ascent was nominal. After separating from the spent rocket stage, they turned the spacecraft around and proceeded to station keep with the rocket stage. They spent fifteen minutes formation flying with the stage, but Borman felt they were using too much fuel and the rocket stage was acting erratically as it vented its own fuel.

They spent the rest of their first day in space doing some experiments and eating their first meal. Their sleep periods were scheduled at the same time unlike previous missions and they were able to get some sleep. The next morning they woke at 9:06 am EST and found out the day's news which included the fact that two airliners had collided over New York. For the first time during a flight, one of the crew was allowed to take off his suit. Borman and Lovell had planned to both take them off two days into the mission when they were satisfied that the environmental system was working properly. The NASA managers did not like this idea and said that at least one crew member had to be wearing a suit at all times. Borman was wearing his suit and was sweating profusely, but agreed to let Lovell stay out his suit as Lovell was the larger of the two and it required a lot of effort to get in and out of a suit in little more space than the front seat of a car.

Moon and clouds over the Western Pacific as seen from Gemini 7 spacecraft

Gemini 7 as seen by Gemini 6

Later the flight controllers ordered Lovell to don his suit and Borman to get out of his. This was because the doctors wanted to see the effects of being suited and unsuited on the crewmembers. So 148 hours into the flight, Borman got his chance to cool down. Finally the NASA managers decided that there was little benefit in having the crew members suited and so relented after a couple of days.

After five days, they had performed four orbital adjustment burns that put them in a circular 162-nautical-mile (300 km) orbit. This meant that the Gemini 7 spacecraft could stay in orbit for at least 100 days without its orbit degrading, more than stable enough for the passive target during a space rendezvous.

On their 31st orbit Gemini 7 observed the underwater launch, missile and exhaust trail of a Polaris Missile from the submarine USS Benjamin Franklin off Florida.

Rendezvous[link]

Gemini 6A launched December 15, after a three-day-long delay due to a malfunction and engine shutdown immediately after ignition. It entered into an 87-by-140-nautical-mile (161 by 260 km) orbit, and was briefly visible from Gemini 7 just after launch. Borman and Lovell were also able to see the contrail from the launch.

The plan called for the rendezvous to take place on the fourth orbit of Gemini 6A. Their first burn came 94 minutes after launch when they increased their velocity by 16.5 ft/sec (5m/sec). Due to their lower orbit they were gaining on Gemini 7 and were 634 nautical miles (1,174 km) behind. The next burn was at 2 hours and 18 minutes when Gemini 6A made a phase adjustment to put them on the same orbital inclination as Gemini 7. They now only trailed by 261 nautical miles (483 km).

The radar on Gemini 6A first made contact with Gemini 7 at 3 hours and 15 minutes when they were 234 nautical miles (433 km) away. A third burn put them into a 146-by-148-nautical-mile (270 by 274 km) orbit. As they slowly gained, Walter Schirra put Gemini 6A's computer in charge of the rendezvous, and at 5 hours and 4 minutes, he saw a bright object that he at first thought was the star Sirius, but was in fact Gemini 7.

After several more burns the two spacecraft were only 130 feet (40 m) apart. The burns had only used 110 pounds (50 kg) of fuel on Gemini 6A, leaving plenty of fuel. During the next 270 minutes the crews moved as close as 1 foot (30 cm), talking over the radio. At one stage the spacecraft were station-keeping so well that neither crew had to make any burns for 20 minutes.

As the sleep periods approached, Gemini 6A made a separation burn and slowly drifted out to 16 kilometers, to prevent an accidental collision in the night. Gemini 6A reentered the next day, landing within 9.7 nautical miles (18.0 km) of the planned site, the first truly accurate atmospheric reentry.

Last few days[link]

By this time the novelty of spaceflight had worn off for the crew of Gemini 7. They had spent 11 days in space and had three more to go. They were doing little more than drifting around the Earth and the incentive of the rendezvous was over. Borman read Roughing It by Mark Twain and Lovell Drums along the Mohawk by Walter D. Edmonds. Malfunctions began: some of the thrusters stopped working. After the flight this was traced to the fact that they had an old type of laminate in the thrust chamber. Also on the 12th day the fuel cells started to give only a partial amount of power. But the manufacturers of the Gemini spacecraft decided that the spacecraft could survive by battery power alone for the next couple of days.

Finally the last day of the mission arrived and the crew stored everything for re-entry. The retro-rockets worked perfectly after 14 days in space. They landed within 6.4 nautical miles (11.9 km) of the targeted landing point.

The crewmen were somewhat weakened by their time in space, but both were in good health and were up and about after a good night's sleep on the recovery ship USS Wasp. They were also in good spirits: during recovery, they joked to Mission Control about getting married after having spent so long together in space.

The Gemini 7 and 6-A missions were supported by the following U.S. Department of Defense resources: 10,125 personnel, 125 aircraft and 16 ships.

Insignia[link]

The patch features an Olympic torch, symbolizing the marathon-like length of the mission. There is a small stylized image of a Gemini spacecraft and the roman numerals VII for seven. The crew did not put its names on the patch, although souvenir versions did include the flight and crew names. The crew patch was designed by Houston artist and animator Bill Bradley.^[1][2]

As with some other missions, the backup crew did a spoof of the patch, featuring an unlit torch, a lighter and the words "NEED A LIGHT - FRANK? JIM?"

Spacecraft location[link]

Gemini 7 spacecraft on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The spacecraft is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia.

See also[link]

• Space capsule
• Space exploration
• Space suit
• Splashdown
• U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps

References[link]

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links[link]

• NASA Gemini 7/Gemini 6 press kit - November 29, 1965
• Gemini 7 Mission Report (PDF) January 1966
• On The Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini
• Spaceflight Mission Patches

v t e Gemini program Missions Unmanned Gemini 1 · 2 Manned Gemini 3 · 4 · 5 · 7 · 6A · 8 · 9A · 10 · 11 · 12 Components Gemini spacecraft · Orbit attitude and maneuvering system · Titan rocket · Agena target vehicle · Gemini space suit Launch sites Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 19 / Launch Complex 14 Developments Advanced Gemini · Blue Gemini / Manned Orbital Development System · Manned Orbiting Laboratory and Gemini B · Big Gemini

Look up Gemini in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gemini (Latin for twins) may refer to:

• Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
• Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign
• Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux of Greek mythology
• Project Gemini, the second U.S. manned spaceflight program
• Gemini Observatory, an astronomical observatory consisting of telescopes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Comics and literature[link]

• Gemini (DC Comics), a fictional supervillain in the DC Universe
• Gemini (Marvel Comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Universe
• Gemini (Image Comics), a fictional superhero in comics created by Jay Faerber
• Gemini Kanon, a fictional character in the manga Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada
• Gemini Saga, a fictional character in the manga Saint Seiya by Masami Kurumada
• Gemini (magazine), a Norwegian periodical
• Gemini Publications, an American magazine publisher
• Gemini (novel), a novel by Dorothy Dunnett

Computing[link]

• Gemini (mail/news), a mail/news reader program by Intellegit
• Gemini chip, an updated version of the Apple Computer chip Mega II
• Gemini (issue tracking system)

Film and theatre[link]

• Gemini (1999 film) (Sôseiji), a Japanese horror film written and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
• Gemini (2002 film), a Tamil film starring Vikram and Kiran Rathod
• Géminis, a 2005 Argentinian film produced by Pablo Trapero
• Gemini, an upcoming romantic comedy film by Burleigh Smith
• Gemini (play), by Albert Innaurato
• Gemini Film Circuit, a film distribution and production studio unit in Chennai, India
• Gemini Studios, a film production house in South India

Music[link]

Performers[link]

• Gemini (musician), a British electronic music producer and DJ
• Gemini (Chinese band), a French-Chinese rock band
• Gemini (Portuguese band), a 1970s band
• Gemini (Swedish band), a brother-and-sister pop duo
• Gemini (rapper), also known as "Big Geminii", American rapper

Albums[link]

• Gemini (Alice Nine album)
• Gemini (Brian McKnight album)
• Gemini (El DeBarge album)
• Gemini (Gemini album), by the Swedish duo
• Gemini (TQ album)
• Gemini (Wild Nothing album)
• Gemini: Good vs. Evil, an album by Krayzie Bone
• Gemini (Einstürzende Neubauten album), by Einstürzende Neubauten
• Gemini, by Atrocity
• Gemini, by Kasia Kowalska
• Gemini, by Sherina Munaf
• Gemini, by Tasha Reid

Songs[link]

• "Gemini" (D'espairsRay song)
• "Gemini" (Sponge Cola song)
• "Gemini", by The Alan Parsons Project from Eye in the Sky
• "Gemini", by Del Shannon
• "Gemini", by Eric Burdon and The Animals from Love Is
• "Gemini", by Israel
• "Gemini", by Krayzie Bone from Thug on da Line
• "Gemini", by Slayer from Undisputed Attitude
• "Gemini (Birthday Song)", by Why? from Elephant Eyelash
• "Gemini", by the Vocaloids Kagamine Rin and Len, featured in the video game Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd

Other[link]

• Gemini FM, a South-West England radio station
• Gemini Sound Products, a manufacturer of professional DJ equipment

Television[link]

• "Gemini" (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• "Gemini" (Stargate SG-1), an episode of Stargate SG-1
• "Gemini", an episode of Nowhere Man
• Gemini, a fictional villain in the animated series Thundarr the Barbarian
• Gemini Award, a Canadian television broadcasting award
• Gemini News, an Indian news channel
• Gemini TV, a Telugu-language Indian television channel
• Gemini Stone, a fictional character from Sabrina: The Animated Series

Transportation[link]

• Gemini Air Cargo, an airline of the United States
• Air Gemini, an airline of Angola
• Isuzu Gemini, a car built by Isuzu
  • Holden Gemini, a car derived from the Isuzu model, made by GM-Holden
• Marsden Gemini, research glider
• MS Gemini, a cruise ship
• Miles Gemini, a British 1940s four-seat aircraft
• Gemini, a development-stage codename for the 200Tdi Land Rover engine

Other uses[link]

• Gemini (roller coaster), at the Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio, U.S.
• Gemini Ganesan (1920–2005), Indian film actor
• Gemini house, a prototype solar-energy house in Austria
• Gemini Monsters, a character type in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
• Gemini Residence, a building in Copenhagen, Denmark
• GeminiJets, a die-cast model airplane manufacturer
• BGO Gemini, a Bulgarian LGBT rights organization
• Coleco Gemini, a clone of the Atari 2600 game system
• Gemini Man, a boss in the video game Mega Man 3

See also[link]

• Gemeni, a village in Dârvari Commune, Mehedinţi County, Romania
• All pages beginning with "Gemini"
• All pages with titles containing "Gemini"
• Gem (disambiguation)
• Gemelli (disambiguation), Italian for twins

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Back row: Shepard, Grissom, Cooper; front row: Schirra, Slayton, Glenn, Carpenter in 1960. This was the only time they would appear together in pressure suits.^[1] Slayton and Glenn are wearing spray-painted work boots.

(L to R) Cooper, Schirra (partially obscured), Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton and Carpenter

The Mercury 7 astronauts examine their 'couches.' Each astronaut's couch was molded to fit his body to help withstand the G-loads of the launch.

The Mercury Seven in front of an F-106 Delta Dart

Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. This was the only astronaut group with members that flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century — Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle.

These seven original American astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton.

Selection process[link]

Although NASA planned an open competition for its first astronauts, President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted that all candidates be test pilots, which excluded women.^[2]:13-14 Because of the small space inside the Mercury spacecraft, candidates could be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg).^[3] Other requirements included an age under 40, a bachelor's degree or equivalent, 1,500 hours of flying time, and qualification to fly jets.^[2]:14

After an advertisement among military test pilots drew more than 500 applications, NASA searched military personnel records in January 1959 and identified 110 pilots—five Marines, 47 from the Navy, and 58 from the Air Force^[4]—who qualified. Sixty-nine^[5] candidates were brought to Washington, DC, in two groups; the candidates' interest was so great, despite the extensive physical and mental exams from January to March, that the agency did not summon the last group.^[2]:14-15 The tests included spending hours on treadmills and tilt tables, submerging their feet in ice water, three doses of castor oil, and five enemas.^[5] Six candidates were rejected as too tall for the planned spacecraft. Another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to take part in the second round of tests, which eliminated eight more candidates, leaving 18.^[2]:16

From the 18, the first seven NASA astronauts were chosen,^[6] each a "superb physical specimen" with a genius-level IQ, and the ability to function well both as part of a team and solo.^[5] Despite the extensive medical evaluation, two of the seven (Shepard and Slayton) were soon grounded for undiagnosed medical conditions and sat out the entirety of Project Gemini and most of the Apollo program (and Mercury as well, in Slayton's case) supervising the active astronauts.

Heroes[link]

NASA introduced the astronauts in Washington on 10 April 1959. Although the agency viewed Project Mercury's purpose as an experiment to determine whether humans could survive space travel, the seven men immediately became national heroes compared to "Columbus, Magellan, Daniel Boone, and the Wright brothers."^[5] 200^[5] reporters overflowed the room used for the announcement and alarmed the astronauts, who were unused to such a large audience.^[2]:16-18

Because they wore civilian clothes, the audience did not see them as military test pilots but "mature, middle-class Americans, average in height and visage, family men all", ready for single combat versus worldwide Communism. To the astronauts' surprise, the reporters asked about their personal lives instead of war records or flight experience, or about the details of Mercury. After Glenn responded by speaking eloquently "on God, country, and family" the others followed his example,^[2]:18-19 and the reporters "lustily applauded them."^[5]

The astronauts participated in Project Mercury's design and planning.^[2]:25-26 While busy with such duties and the intense training for their flights,^[2]:22 the men also "roughhoused and drank and drove fast and got into sexual peccadilloes", likely due to the dangerous nature of their work.^[2]:35 NASA actively sought to protect the astronauts and the agency from negative publicity and maintain an image of "clean-cut, all-American boy[s]".^[2]:20

Media[link]

The seven astronauts agreed to share equally any proceeds from interviews regardless of who flew first.^[5][7] In August 1959, they and their wives signed a contract with Life magazine for $500,000^[7] in exchange for exclusive access to their private lives, homes, and families.^[2]:16 They wrote first-hand accounts of their selection and preparation for the Mercury missions in the 1962 book We Seven. Additionally, each of them separately wrote at least one book describing their astronaut experiences. In 1979, Tom Wolfe published a less sanitized version of their story in The Right Stuff. Wolfe's book was the basis for the popular film of the same name directed by Philip Kaufman.

Their official spokesman from 1959-1963 was USAF Lt. Col. John "Shorty" Powers, who as a result became known in the press as the "eighth astronaut".

In the 1960s TV series Thunderbirds, the Tracy brothers were given the forenames of five of the Mercury astronauts: Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John.

A chart showing Group 1/Mercury 7 assignments in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo

Group members[link]

Memorial at LC-14

Plaque at LC-14

• Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., USN, (1923–1998)

MR-3 (Freedom 7), Apollo 14

• Virgil Ivan (Gus) Grissom, USAF, (1926–1967)

MR-4 (Liberty Bell 7), Gemini 3, Apollo 1

• John Herschel Glenn Jr., USMC, (born 1921)

MA-6 (Friendship 7), STS-95

• Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN, (born 1925)

MA-7 (Aurora 7)

• Walter Marty (Wally) Schirra Jr., USN, (1923–2007)

MA-8 (Sigma 7), Gemini 6A, Apollo 7

• Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., USAF, (1927–2004)

MA-9 (Faith 7), Gemini 5

• Donald Kent (Deke) Slayton, USAF, (1924–1993)

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

See also[link]

• Man In Space Soonest
• Mercury 13
• NASA Astronaut Groups

References[link]

v t e Project Mercury General NASA (Organizer) Space race (Political background) Space flight (Scientific background) Contractors McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (Space craft) North American Aviation (Test rocket) Related programs USA Gemini (Mercury Mark II) Apollo (Moon program) Soviet Vostok (Rival in space race) Missions Manned Freedom 7 (First suborbital flight) Liberty Bell 7 Friendship 7 (First orbital flight) Aurora 7 Sigma 7 Faith 7 Unmanned LJ-1 Big Joe 1 LJ-6 LJ-1A LJ-2 LJ-1B Beach Abort MA-1 Little Joe 5 MR-1 MR-1A MR-2 MA-2 LJ-5A MR-BD MA-3 LJ-5B MA-4 MS-1 MA-5 Astronauts General Mercury Seven In order of flight (In suborbit:) Alan Shepard Gus Grissom (In orbit:) John Glenn Scott Carpenter Wally Schirra Gordon Cooper (Did not fly:) Deke Slayton Equipment Navy Mark IV (Space suit) Test animals Ham Enos (Background:) Animals in space Subprograms Mercury-Atlas Mercury-Redstone Mercury-Scout Big Joe Mercury-Jupiter (Canceled) Rockets Atlas Redstone Blue Scout II Little Joe Jupiter (Proposed) Other Mercury 13 (Non NASA project inspired by Project Mercury)