Gemini 7

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 km).

Objectives

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 it was meant to rendezvous and dock with. However the objective of rendezvous was so important it was decided to fly Gemini 6 at the same time as Gemini 7, thus using the latter as the rendezvous target.

Related Topics:
Gemini 6 - Agena Target Vehicle

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Pete Conrad - Gemini V - Skylab

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 a fortnight in space on the human body. The nearly fourteen days in space would double the length of time that anyone had been in space and would stand as the single spaceflight duration record for five years.

Related Topics:
Fortnight - Human body

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~