Chapter 3: Complex Maneuvers
(Authors note: some chapters, such as this one, will have songs attached to them to help build the mood and provide vibes. Post-Script Authors Note (PSAN?): really excited for Chapter 4... something of a Christmas special and a really interesting mission <3 )
(Arthur Conley, Sweet Soul Music)
Gemini 9 lifted off in much the same way as previous Gemini flights, riding atop a screaming rocket, being lofted up and beyond the sky. This mission, however, was distinct. Gemini 9 would be the first mission to take advantage of the Titan’s payload containment ring, carrying the TDT underneath the capsule. The TDT, or Transposition Demonstration Target was a small docking collar, derived from the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV). Unlike the GATV, the collar rode mounted directly to the upper stage. This would allow the Gemini spacecraft an opportunity to demonstrate a complex maneuver that would have to be perfected before mankind's odyssey to the moon: Transposition and Docking.
Once the capsule was in orbit, Command Pilot Eliott See and Pilot Charles Bassett successfully separated from the Titan II’s payload ring, flipped their spacecraft around and re-attached to the upper stage. Just like that, their primary mission objective had been accomplished, just in time for a quick lunch break. After this short break, Bassett suited up, and prepared to tackle the secondary mission objective: the AMU.
Bassett departed the capsule, with his eyes focused towards the rear of the spacecraft, as See fed him his umbilical out the hatch. Fighting with the Snake, as previous astronauts had dubbed the stubborn umbilical, he made his way towards the AMU. As he grabbed the hand-rail at the rear of the spacecraft, he pulled himself around and saw it, the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. With quite a struggle, Bassett successfully donned the jetpack, and used it to maneuver towards the front of the spacecraft and retrieve an ultraviolet camera from See. He then connected his tether to the ATP at the nose of the craft, and began a separation maneuver.
Bassett successfully took over 40 photographs from his new vantage point, floating over 45 feet above the spacecraft. He then handed off the camera to See, before tackling his next objective. He retrieved a spool of cable from inside the capsule, fastened it to the docking collar, then to the Gemini. He then returned to the rear of the capsule and stowed the AMU.
Bassett: We’re doing good up here Houston, You can go ahead and pull me up Elliot.
The next experiment would have to wait though, as the astronauts needed some rest. The next morning, See disengaged the docking port, and began a separation maneuver. The upper stage floated away in their windows, attached to them via a thin, metallic tether; It was slack at first, and finally became taught. The spacecraft began spinning gently, attempting to observe a small force from this rotation, perceived as the astronauts being pushed into their couches. Despite the tether remaining taught, the force was simply too small to measure, and a longer cable would be required in the future.
Bassett went on a final EVA, simply stretching outside the hatch to cut the cord that connected the two craft. Shortly after, they began reentry procedures. Just like that their short mission, totaling less than 24 hours, had concluded. Data collected, experiments performed, mission accomplished.
Gemini 10 would see a similar success in its flight two months later. The spacecraft launched into a rendezvous with the Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle 5005. Once all pre-docking checks were cleared, they successfully docked to the craft, and performed an EVA.. Collins performed the first in-space inspection of another craft while on EVA, verifying that the Agena’s engines were Good to go.
After his first EVA, Collins would return to the capsule, and the Agena’s engines would be fired up once again, boosting the spacecraft to an apogee of 740 nautical miles (1,370km). It was from this new vantage point that a further EVA would be conducted using the AMU, this time deploying a small sensor package to measure the electron wake of the vehicle, and another to measure the South Atlantic Anomaly. Both experiments provided valued results, as did all other experiments performed across their 3 day mission.
Days later, the Gemini and Agena would perform their second maneuver, plotting a course to rendezvous with the ill-fated Agena of Gemini 8.
Young: We see it, Houston. We’re gonna do a bit of a flyaround, and take a few pictures.
(Pilot Michael Collins captured these photographs during their flyaround)
Collins would go on EVA later that day to attempt and retrieve a micrometeorite sample meant to be retrieved by the crew of Gemini 8. He would be the 2nd person to don the Air Force’s AMU, this time with much less struggle. The device had been modified and reoriented slightly to make it easier to don and doff using insight from the previous flight, as NASA saw potential in its use on upcoming Gemini flights. However, He would have to give up on this endeavor as he found the docking port had broken slightly to reveal a razor sharp edge, easily capable of cutting his Tether.
Despite these difficulties, the spacecraft would perform many firsts. Gemini 10 would be the first to revisit a spacecraft, the first to perform a double rendezvous, and would break existing altitude records. This, putting herself and her crew in the history books as the highest humans had traveled prior to NASA’s upcoming Apollo. The mission was almost a complete success, demonstrating that EVA had become a tried and true method of performing basic work in a space environment, and that humans were up to the task of rendezvousing with orbital craft, and deploying scientific payloads in Earth orbit. But what about retrieving them? That would have to wait for a later mission…
