Before the first two American astronauts in a GEMINI circled -capsule, the Earth and so coupling maneuver and Andockverfahren for later APOLLO program tested, there were a number of unmanned test flights with the launch configuration. In GEMINI-TITAN-2 on 19 January 1965 at 14:03:59 UTC, and has started a few minutes later at 14:22:14 UTC sank in the Atlantic, it was about to test the re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, which a ballistic missile of all.
After the successful test of GEMINI-TITAN-1 of 8 April 1964 and the evaluation of the data thus obtained, was planned for November 1964 the first manned Gemini launch. On 24 August 1964 should be lying in between the second test of GT-2. This however came to nothing, because after the end of July, the Titan rocket erected on the proposed launch site and LC-19 tests were made had to be suspended in August after a lightning strike on or in the launch tower. Investigations on damage, including on the launch vehicle, took several weeks, the start date was moved into September. Damage was not found, but that's not enough. End of August 1964 took a hurricane named Cleo on the launch site at Cape of time, two more hurricanes were predicted for September. For security reasons, including the rocket-GEMINI capsule and dismantled on 18 September and is set up. On 9 December - the launch of the manned Gemini had since been moved - the countdown had to be stopped a second after its start because of a drop in pressure in the hydraulic control for the ignition of the main engines.
On 19 January 1965, she set out successful. It reached an altitude of 171 km and after 18 minutes and 16 seconds and a 3419 km long flight went down the capsule in the Atlantic, where she was raised by the American aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. The heat shield held the loads and so the way was clear for the first manned Gemini mission, on 23 March 1965 to 14:24:00 on the LC-19 took off with the two astronauts John Young and Virgil Grissom on board a suborbital, ballistic and nearly five hours later at 19:16:31 UTC in the Atlantic water temper.
The Atlantic salvaged GEMINI-2 spacecraft was after his first return to its original condition and received a hatch in the heat shield. Reason for the Restoration was to reuse as part of the military intelligence program, known as the MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory ) of the U.S. Air Force. Started on 10 December 1963 should it be expanded into a permanently manned space laboratory, keep the crews up to 40 days in space, this monitor primarily the territory of the Soviet Union and its satellite states as a successor to the X-20 Dyna Soar program. This should be developed with Dyna-Soar-3, a first strategic space bomber until 1974. Since, however, should be concentrated all our efforts at NASA to prepare for the lunar landing, the project was discontinued in 1963.
The MOL has continued but at first and it was on 3 November 1966 the first and only test flight as part of this military program. The recycled-2 was in GEMINI GEMINI renamed B and should try on that day the modified heat shield. And not only that a dummy, the so-called mock-up should also be carried which consisted of an empty Titan II fuel tank. On board the Titan III launches were still three small research satellite called OV1-6, and OV4 OV4-1R-1T. In this complex configuration started the MOL-HSQ (Head Shield Qualification) mission, the GEMINI-B was exposed in low Earth orbit, the satellite reached the regulatory orbit and the MOL has been suspended in orbit.
GEMINI How should be the MOL and crew of two astronauts. On 1 November was selected the first 8-man crew MOL, on 2 June 1966 the second (5 men) and on 3 June 1967, the third (4 men). The 17 astronauts were selected, but as part of the MOL project, never used. Seven of them who were not older than 35, were taken by NASA and later came under the shuttle program used: Richard H. Truly ( pilot for STS-2 and commander of STS-8 , later director of NASA's 1989 to 1992), Karol J. Bobko (Pilot at STS-6 , the maiden flight of the Challenger, Commander in STS-51D and STS-51J ) Robert L. Crippen (Pilot at STS-1 , the maiden flight of Columbia , commander for STS-7 , STS-41C , STS-41G ) Henry W. Hartsfield Jr. (he was the back-up crews of Apollo 16 and all three SKYLAB missions was pilot for STS-4 , commander for STS-41D and STS-61A , then from 1986-1987 Deputy Head of the Astronaut Office at NASA, in 1987 deputy director of flight operations, changed at short notice in 1990 in the Office of Space Flight "in the NASA HQ and devoted himself since 1990, first at the Marshall Space Flight Center, then at the Johnson Space Center building the future ISS), Robert F. Overmyer (he was one of the back -up crew of Apollo 17 and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in was pilot of STS-5 and commander of STS-51B ) and Donald H. Peterson , at the STS-6 as a mission specialist was there.
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