ignition
six-zero aspects good flight mr. Patrick
plot start feel pressure running a
little high
how's it looking guidance project
they'll find a slightly low no problem
Roger Fido how about you for state next
thanks ago staging Roger Capcom we're go
for staging
Roger staging how's that thrust low
booster that frets is looking a little
high right Roger okay all status check
booster go retro go right off go
guidance guidance you go standby one
sergeant go he can't go Chauncey go how
do you stand guidance I go flight Roger
Capcom where go early shutdown we have a
Seco here play hide your shutdown black
father we had cut off standby
Roger Fido panting boy for having eyes
like the eyes going over 300 feet per
second 70 to 99
72 is to fire auto work now go we've got
work no go little Capcom work no go
Roger you are no go no go that's all you
got a time here
Roger flight area charlie at 9:00 +20
fall angle on the retro seven degrees
recovery will be retro firing at nine
plus 20 Roger flight give me some
weather and access times in that area
please no swells and your callsign
rescue one that Destroyer is below five
four three two one retrofire touching
fire one rocket two
this was not an actual Germany mission
nobody left the ground Germany did not
abort we have simply edited together an
isolated launch with shots of the flight
controllers simulating that launch the
flight was simulated from an adjacent
room in the Mission Control Center
Houston and like many other things in
the Space Age flight simulation is done
by computers the primary and backup crew
for Gemini 8 will undergo 11 days of
such simulated flights before launch day
March 16
early in the program experts sit down
and analyze the Gemini 8 flight they
know it is a three day mission its
primary purposes include rendezvous in
space women Agena target vehicle the
first docking in space and a two-hour
spacewalk by pilot David Scott the
experts then devise problems that could
occur some simple some quite challenging
they feed these problems into a computer
and sit back and see what happens
perhaps with a little glee at any rate
the crew in the simulator and the
controller at the console are given the
problem both must respond correctly
about ninety problems will be run for
the Gemini 8 mission on the schedule are
two days devoted to the Agena target
vehicle for days devoted to network
simulations and two days scheduled for
running re-entry simulations including
emergency reentry's eleven days of
problem solving most probably none of
them would turn up during the flight but
if one should the crew and the five
thousand people in the ground network
that support these two men would be
ready several days before Gemini 8 will
leave the ground the USS boxer steams
toward the primary recovery zone where
the mission will normally end it begins
training its complement of officers and
men in recovery operations instead of
launching amphibious strike missions the
boxer now launches helicopters for
search and retrieval of astronauts on
board is the commander of the western
Atlantic recovery forces known as Task
Force one forty point three two ships
six helicopters
and six aircraft are assigned to this
task force all five man Gemini flights
to date have been recovered as planned
in the primary zone still 10 more ships
54 aircraft and 5,000 additional men
will be deployed at different stations
around the world for recovery there are
nine other planned landing areas lying
within the three major zones of the
eastern Atlantic the mid Pacific and the
Western Pacific in the western Pacific
the USS Leonard F Mason a destroyer
begins exercises on the retrieval of a
border plate model of the Germany space
craft the Mason will cover three landing
areas within zone three it will be
backed up by aircraft from Okinawa and
Japan the chief difference between the
primary area where the boxer is
stationed and a secondary area such as
this is the comprehensiveness of
coverage the number of aircraft ships
and recovery specialists on station in
addition a special launch abort area
covers the landmass and immediate
offshore areas at Cape Kennedy recovery
teams go out before the astronauts enter
the spacecraft in case of an ejected
abort from the launch pad or shortly
after liftoff there could be more
extreme contingencies the emergency
might be such that a spacecraft could
not land in a planned landing area in a
dire emergency the command planet might
have to fire the retrorockets and come
right down there statistics come into
play here the world is 70% water and 30%
land the odds are strongly weighted
toward a water landing aircraft are
stationed at 12 points to locate the
spacecraft in this emergency any
commercial shipping in the area might
then be called for assistance to pick up
the astronauts freighters Oilers tankers
any ship with heavy hoist equipment
could also take the spacecraft aboard
if the crew comes down over land they
would use the ejection seats leave the
spacecraft and land by parachute
astronauts have not only a complete
survival kit to sustain them but they
trained to live off the land even desert
and jungle weather Germany comes down
over water or land recovery is planned
and coordinated by a NASA team of
specialists they setup the requirements
for a mission and work closely with the
Department of Defense DoD then commits
the necessary ships and aircraft to do
the job
the DoD manager for manned spacecraft
Support directs worldwide recovery
forces he is in contact with two main
elements under his command the Atlantic
recovery Control Center Cape Kennedy and
the Pacific recovery control center
Hawaii the red telephone puts him into
direct contact with the highest levels
of the Department of Defense for further
assistance but all of this the red
telephone and the contingency aircraft
off Pago Pago Island South Pacific seems
remote on the 16th of March the crew is
entering their spacecraft for what has
every sign of being a normal flight at
the same time on launch complex 14 the
Atlas Aegina count is only 25 minutes
from liftoff the Gemini mission is
largely based on a successful orbit of
the target vehicle the Agena count has
no holds right on the nose at 10 o'clock
Eastern Standard Time the Atlas launch
vehicle ignites
[Music]
Atlas has three main propulsion engines
which ignited liftoff - our booster
engines and one is a sustainer engine
the booster engines cutoff first some
two minutes 40 seconds into the flight
the sustainer engine then takes over and
propels the Agena to an altitude of 650
4,000 190 feet - small vernier engines
on the Atlas continue to position the
Agena properly in the later phases of
launch they cut off at five minutes six
seconds after liftoff the Agena
propulsion system then inserts the
target vehicle into a circular orbit
today the flight plan calls for a
circular orbit of 161 nautical miles
something close to that would be
acceptable the Agena propulsion system
can be started from the ground and a
burn completed to change the orbit but
as the final figures come up to the
flight dynamics officer no in-flight
burns will be needed Aegina has hit the
planned circular orbit of 161 nautical
miles this is a good beginning for any
rendezvous flight the news is given the
crew by the spacecraft communicator
pilot Scott comes back with just what
the doctor ordered
the flight director now calls for launch
of Gemini 8 at 11:40 and 59 seconds
Eastern Standard Time offshore the
launch site recovery forces are fully
deployed they now can only wait like the
rest of us
five four
[Music]
the liftoff came as flight director
Hodge had requested 1140 and 59 seconds
Gemini 8 goes into the clouds my above
Cape Kennedy as the spacecraft comes out
of the clouds an aerial chase plane
picks it up for a close look at what
it's like to ride as a spacecraft crew
on top of a booster after 50 seconds the
crew releases the restraints which are
required for seat ejection Gemini 8 was
inserted into an orbit of 86 nautical
miles by 146 nautical miles very close
to the planned values of 86 by 145
nautical miles the launch site abort is
the first contingency that has passed
successfully a carefully trained team
has been released and returns to other
duties with two good orbits target
vehicle and spacecraft Gemini 8 had a
head start on rendezvous and docking the
maneuvers for rendezvous would be
essentially the same as those performed
by Gemini 6 so fast does the space
program accelerate that rendezvous was
the primary objective of Gemini 6 in
December but three months later it is
March and rendezvous almost seems
routine everyone is focused more on
docking everyone except those who fly
the mission then you take things step by
step this is simply control Houston
about two minutes ago Neil Armstrong
called in over Tanana Reeve and he was
able to confirm at that time that radar
lock had been established Roger do you
have solid radar lock on with you Gina
over
thank you sounds good after radar lock
on the crew will circularize their orbit
inside that of the target vehicle
meantime the ground does not sit still
idly waiting for something to happen
recovery forces are constantly shifting
in response to the orbit of the
spacecraft changing station according to
a detailed recovery plan the USS
Cochrane a destroyer in the mid Pacific
takes position for a 4-4 recovery that
is recovery in the fourth revolution in
zone 4 zone 3 will be the planned
landing zone for the next three
revolutions four five six and seven
after that Gemini 8 will not be over a
planned landing area again until the
tenth revolution then it passes over the
eastern Atlantic zone if an emergency
occurs in the eighth or ninth revolution
the spacecraft will land in a
contingency area recovery is supported
there by aircraft and available
commercial shipping but right now much
of this seems academic the crew has
other business
[Applause]
[Music]
and that's great man
first thing we really have to do
platform peril is 650 to 750
and they're giving us the SPC loaded
y'all maneuver
looks like
they're gonna give you that time
I'll check your own stash this place
wait
those lucky guys are just jumping up and
down we are looking at the left or
command pilots window as the
station-keeping exercise where the Gina
begins Gemini 8 had no difficulty in
maneuvering in the vicinity of the Agena
the onboard film as in past flights was
at 6 frames per second and is being
projected at 4 times that speed after
station keeping for 35 minutes command
pilot Armstrong begins to move in closer
to a Gina preparing his final docking
approach both vehicles are traveling at
approximately 17,500 miles per hour we
are looking at the target docking
adaptor end of the Agena the command
pilot makes a docking approach by
applying very small thrust increases to
Gemini 8 the maximum velocity difference
between the two vehicles at docking will
be about 1 foot per second when the
command pilot is about 2 feet from the
Agena he will pause until he gets a goal
from the Rose not Victor the double
check has been completed
[Applause]
that was it two vehicles docked for the
first time in space
shortly after docking the crew was
slightly surprised when Jim Lovell the
spacecraft communicator checked in with
this caution Roger a new line and clear
I have some information for you if you
run into trouble and the the attitude
control system eugenia
goes wild just send in command 402 turn
it off and take control to spacecraft
did you cover that it was a routine
check you punched four zero zero into
the on-board computer this automatically
turns off the attitude control system of
the Agena if the problem is a Gina
control that ends it minutes later
Gemini 8 passed out of communications
range beyond the island of Madagascar
the crew was preparing to begin a series
of docking exercises and the mason was
between stations it had left 5-3 and was
headed for a 6-3 recovery zone since we
were in the fifth revolution the retro
fire experts were routinely updating
their retro fire times these are usually
planned for six revolutions ahead and
stored in the onboard computer it was
about this time that gin level almost
qualified as the space prophet of the
year for seven hours after liftoff and
27 minutes of normal docking an
excessive yaw and roll motion occurred
the crew punched up 400 but the trouble
was not in the Agena unable to find an
immediate answer mr. Armstrong undocked
the roll rate continued to build up
reaching about one revolution per second
struggling to regain control mr.
Armstrong was forced to fire the
re-entry thrusters and gradually
reasserted control over the spacecraft
neither crewman experienced any loss of
orientation Gemini never a pro
a critical structural strain once the
re-entry thrusters are fired there is
the possibility of fuel leakage in orbit
leaking of fuel essential for reentry
the flight had been highly successful
through 27 minutes of docking but final
action rests squarely on the shoulders
of this man
the flight director a decision came
quickly fuel readings were too low abort
that was the first decision others
follow where do we recover a stream of
facts flow into flight director Hodges
console exact orbital position weather
in the Pacific available daylight in
recovery zones and the whereabouts of
the USS Mason a destroyer which had
repetitiously practiced picking up a
boilerplate model of Germany in the
waters of the Pacific came into its own
millions of people suddenly learned that
it existed with Gemini stabilized in
flight
there were several advantages to
delaying re-entry for another orbit the
retrofire officer would have an exact
reading on retrofire times and the crew
could prepare for re-entry and aircraft
could be on station at splashdown this
is the way it would be the NASA
coordinator leans over toward the DoD
console we want to recover in 7-3 the
DoD manager immediately punches the
button which puts him in contact with
Pacific recovery control Hawaii Hawaii
alerts the captain of the Mason he
swings around and heads for 7-3 making
30 knots search aircraft scramble from
Okinawa they will be over the predicted
landing point 10 minutes before the
spacecraft splashes down as Gemini 8
begins its seventh and final revolution
weather is excellent in the splashdown
area the crew is busy the command pilot
has time for only this brief reflection
I'd like to argue with them about going
home but I don't know how we can that
was all Gemini 8 sweeps past Ascension
Island retrofire will come up over Kano
Nigeria
air-to-ground communications are broken
but the Rockets fire right on the nose
the crew begins their descent through
the atmosphere this is the view they
will see for a long time the high peaks
of the Himalayas
after these forbidding mountains the
sweep of the Pacific will look friendly
and hospitable waiting for Gemini 8 our
rescue aircraft circling in the landing
area ready to pick up an electronic
signal from the spacecraft two aircrafts
from okinawa were originally assigned
here but five others were quickly
alerted and added to the recovery team
when Gemini 8 is only three miles away a
c-54 catches sight of it on the main
landing parachute after that landing is
almost routine and Gemini 8 landed
within two miles of the predicted impact
point
the first para rescue swimmer in the
water is airman first class Neel airman
Neel is a veteran of combat rescue work
and a good man to have on your side he
was quickly followed by two other rescue
swimmers it was early afternoon in the
Pacific but almost 11 o'clock at night
in the Atlantic where the USS boxer had
waited the Mason three hours away at
splashdown reached the area at 3:17 p.m.
local time crew and spacecraft both in
good shape were soon aboard within 72
hours NASA scientists would pin down the
source of trouble a short circuit in the
wiring of the number-8 yaw thruster had
caused it to fire erratically the
possibility of this failure recurring is
slight but a master switch has now been
added to the Gemini spacecraft the crew
can throw this switch and cut off all
power to the attitude thrusters in any
future flight
once the difficulty was corrected we
could take time out to realize that
Gemini 8 had brought us closer to lunar
exploration by demonstrating the first
successful dock in space
[Music]
Gemini 8 also gave many of us our first
look at men like the three young rescue
swimmers airman Neil and Moore and Staff
Sergeant Hewitt as well as the captain
and crew of the Mason men who are there
in every flight on remote stations doing
their duty and doing it well it was
these men who cited Gemini 8 on the
parachute and took the crew and
spacecraft safely aboard the Mason at
that point we knew that the long months
of training and the many simulations and
the close interplay between NASA and the
Department of Defense were sound the
mission is ended the control room is
empty but it will soon fill up again as
simulations begin for the next flight we
had achieved our first docking in space
we experienced our first orbital abort
in both cases
Gemini 8 came through with flying colors
you