Project Gemini

Rare card · No. 71086

Project Gemini (IPA: ) was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. It was conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development. Gemini was conceived in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966. Gemini's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. In doing so, it allowed the United States to catch up and overcome the lead in human spaceflight capability the Soviet Union had obtained in the early years of the Space Race, by demonstrating mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon; methods of performing extravehicular activity (EVA) without tiring; and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Original: NASA Vector: Ttheek, Public domain