I remember seeing this.I was used to the countdown reaching 0 and the engines igniting and the rocket taking off.It was scary to see the engines ignite and the rocket just sitting on the launch pad.I didn't know what caused it,but thought that rendezvous with Gemeni 7 wasn't going to happen.I was relieved when Schirra and Stafford were out of danger and that they rescheduled the flight for three days later.This was day 8 in the Gemini 7 flight and on day 11 they did it and returned the next day.
If I recall correctly from some books I read, the explosive bolts fired, and the Titan II sat precariously on the pad. Schirra received a NASA medal for staying cool and not ejecting...as Lunarmodule5 noted, had he given the abort command, GT-6 would not have been able to be reassembled in time and Gemini 7 would have landed, scuttling the rendevous project.
There's a video on you tube labeled "Atlas-Centaur 5 pad fallback, 1965" very scary looking. Good thing that the Gemini 6A Titan II did not let go of the pad after the shutdown.
2:12 to 2:20 Scariest sound you will ever hear at a rocket launch. The sounds you hear are the Titan's engines igniting, throttling, and then violently shutting down, which caused the metal skin on the rocket to groan and creak. Amazing that the safety system shut it down before the entire thing exploded.
If a malfunction like this happened on Ares, their only choice would have been to blast off from it with the escape tower and see the rocket fly off and explode in a ball of fire. Manned rockets should always use LIQUID fuel for their first stage, who the hell in NASA forgot this?
No launch escape tower back then to whisk the capule away from the pad and deploy a parachute to bring it down. A major malfunction at launch must have meant certain death for those brave men.
@TheSpiritof1969 They had ejection seats - and could eject on the pad if needed (or, of course, in powerered flight. Schirra and the rest of the astronaut corps worried about the effects of such an ejection.
And, If he had ejected on this abort Gemini 6 would not have been put back together in time before Gemini 7 came home.
Unusual piece of flight test trivia - 12 December is a hazardous day:
12 December 1953 - Chuck Yeager's Mach 2.44 flight in the X1-A at Edwards ("Operation NACA Weep"); major inertia coupling event sends X1-A out of control and into a 51000 foot dive/spin before Yeager is able to recover control and land.
12 December 1965 - GT6-A launch pad abort shown here.
I believe that the twin Gemini 7/6 mission was the only time in the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo era that Walter Cronkite anchored a manned launch from the New York studio and not from the Cape.
If you stop and think about it the Titan II was our primary ICBM for a time. After seeing all the scrubs and delays with this missile during GEMINI one has to wonder how reliable it was and how this impacted out national defense.
@HeliosPhoenix I think that's the turbopump assemblies spooling up in the engines. These were actuated by the release of Nitrogen stored in two K bottles at 3000 PSI. and supplied the fule mix to the combustion chamber of the engines.
stunningly clear video. Almost better than modern shuttle stuff. This is Gemini 6A isnt it??? Much better commentary, even by the media types, back then than the dribble you get today which has been dumbed down unbelievably.
@DumbYankies I think I'm right in saying taht Gemini 6 was the failed launch and Gemini 6A was the actual launch a little later. Correct me if I'm wrong
No problem on the editing. I'm just thankful I (and we) can see these gems! Nothing like as-it-happened TV coverage...historic stuff. Give me the old days of news coverage.
Its Safe to say that Wally was a steely eyed missile man on that day. According to a book I read on the Gemini missions. He had his hand on the eject handle and never pulled it. And concerning the results of and ejection from the pad. I don't believe that the chances of survival in a launch pad ejection were pretty slim anyways since I don't believe they had zero/zero seats back then (can someone check on that and let me know plz)
@Starwing1272 I certainly think that Wally was quite aware that if he had ejected that would have been it for Gemini 6/7.I also think that Wally was aware of the possible consequences to an astronaut if they did eject. He carried that over to Apollo 7, expressing several times his concerns of injury to the crew were it necessary to perform an on-pad abort using the LES.
@lunarmodule5 -- It was some time in the late 1950's on a test flight of a Convair 990 my dad had his hand on the handle of an ejection chute (a chute in the bottom of the plane so that the crew could clear the slip-stream in a bail-out) when the plane had done a roll and was in a 43,000 FPM, mach .98 dive. He realized that pulling the chute & depressurizing the cabin might end up killing the rest of the crew and he might not surive the bail-out.
@Starwing1272 You're right - no zero/zero seats on Gemini. Gemini was originally slated to land using a "para-wing", which looked like a hang glider, rather than chutes. The seats were designed for an ejection due to para-wing failure. When the para-wing concept was scrapped, the spacraft design had already been locked down, so they kept the seats. A pad eject was always questionable not only due to lack of 0/0 seats, but also because the Titan rocket smoke plume is highly toxic and corrosive
I've always wanted to see TV footage of the Gemini missions.
By the way, Gemeni 6 commander Wally Schriaa was a close friend of Wakletr Cronkite and teamed up with Cronkite to cover many space missions for CBS News.
Thank you so much for posting this video! I had been looking for footage of this incident for a long time. This is the one pad abort that's worse than STS-68's pad abort, which occurred at T-1.9 seconds from liftoff. The crew is very fortunate that the pyrotechnic bolts didn't release otherwise the rocket could have exploded on impact even at an inch or two. Schirra and Stafford are TRUE space heroes.
@dablommer Yep - it was a good thing Schirra decided to stay with the vehicle and not to eject too. If he had, that would have probably been it for Gemini 6. There would have been no rendezvous with gemini 7. I think Schirra was also worried about the physical ramifications to an astronaut if he had to eject from a Gemini.
Wall Schirra did not eject. That is what you call mental toughness. Too bad, the head cold caused his undoing on Apollo 7.
iXelsior 2 weeks ago
Wow! Now that was close. Kudos to the engineers..
NEVERSTOPJAMIN 3 weeks ago
brown pants time
LOPEZdJUNGLIST 2 months ago
I remember seeing this.I was used to the countdown reaching 0 and the engines igniting and the rocket taking off.It was scary to see the engines ignite and the rocket just sitting on the launch pad.I didn't know what caused it,but thought that rendezvous with Gemeni 7 wasn't going to happen.I was relieved when Schirra and Stafford were out of danger and that they rescheduled the flight for three days later.This was day 8 in the Gemini 7 flight and on day 11 they did it and returned the next day.
GGE47 2 months ago
The "CBS News" set at the start is awesome & "retro".
MattTheSaiyan 5 months ago
Reinvention of the word: BALLS. Now that's BALLS!!!
soberek 6 months ago
If I recall correctly from some books I read, the explosive bolts fired, and the Titan II sat precariously on the pad. Schirra received a NASA medal for staying cool and not ejecting...as Lunarmodule5 noted, had he given the abort command, GT-6 would not have been able to be reassembled in time and Gemini 7 would have landed, scuttling the rendevous project.
JBM425 6 months ago
There's a video on you tube labeled "Atlas-Centaur 5 pad fallback, 1965" very scary looking. Good thing that the Gemini 6A Titan II did not let go of the pad after the shutdown.
rivotrich7 6 months ago
Walter Cronkite was awesome when anchoring NASA missions.
ilmsff7 7 months ago
2:12 to 2:20 Scariest sound you will ever hear at a rocket launch. The sounds you hear are the Titan's engines igniting, throttling, and then violently shutting down, which caused the metal skin on the rocket to groan and creak. Amazing that the safety system shut it down before the entire thing exploded.
Apollo5595 8 months ago in playlist Gemini 3
I think those brave men were very lucky that rocket did'nt blowup...
janmadytay 9 months ago
If a malfunction like this happened on Ares, their only choice would have been to blast off from it with the escape tower and see the rocket fly off and explode in a ball of fire. Manned rockets should always use LIQUID fuel for their first stage, who the hell in NASA forgot this?
maxell1221 10 months ago 2
No launch escape tower back then to whisk the capule away from the pad and deploy a parachute to bring it down. A major malfunction at launch must have meant certain death for those brave men.
TheSpiritof1969 10 months ago
@TheSpiritof1969 They had ejection seats - and could eject on the pad if needed (or, of course, in powerered flight. Schirra and the rest of the astronaut corps worried about the effects of such an ejection.
And, If he had ejected on this abort Gemini 6 would not have been put back together in time before Gemini 7 came home.
lunarmodule5 10 months ago 4
Its a problem with the wazunam valve next to the overhead underhang,Its not rocket science.
arobekie 10 months ago
Unusual piece of flight test trivia - 12 December is a hazardous day:
12 December 1953 - Chuck Yeager's Mach 2.44 flight in the X1-A at Edwards ("Operation NACA Weep"); major inertia coupling event sends X1-A out of control and into a 51000 foot dive/spin before Yeager is able to recover control and land.
12 December 1965 - GT6-A launch pad abort shown here.
Mikey300 11 months ago
The Titan sounds like a wounded beast - we forget about the pumps used to push fuel into the engines.
antimatterXXXIII 1 year ago
I believe that the twin Gemini 7/6 mission was the only time in the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo era that Walter Cronkite anchored a manned launch from the New York studio and not from the Cape.
altfactor 1 year ago
If you stop and think about it the Titan II was our primary ICBM for a time. After seeing all the scrubs and delays with this missile during GEMINI one has to wonder how reliable it was and how this impacted out national defense.
Skytroop 1 year ago
Why does it sound like tires squealing when the Titan ignites? Looks like someone forgot to turn off the parking brake! :P
HeliosPhoenix 1 year ago
@HeliosPhoenix I think that's the turbopump assemblies spooling up in the engines. These were actuated by the release of Nitrogen stored in two K bottles at 3000 PSI. and supplied the fule mix to the combustion chamber of the engines.
Skytroop 1 year ago
stunningly clear video. Almost better than modern shuttle stuff. This is Gemini 6A isnt it??? Much better commentary, even by the media types, back then than the dribble you get today which has been dumbed down unbelievably.
DumbYankies 1 year ago 3
Yes it's Gemini 6A. Like "Gemini 9A" is Gemini 9.... I just number them as they flew....but thanks for the comment...appreciated!!!
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@lunarmodule5 i wold like to thank you for posting these marvelous clips. This was the United States at it's height of greatness.
The men and women that worked in the manned space program were pure genious
azfsiguy 1 year ago
@DumbYankies I think I'm right in saying taht Gemini 6 was the failed launch and Gemini 6A was the actual launch a little later. Correct me if I'm wrong
hardakml 7 months ago
3:30 Elliot See was killed in a plane crash along with fellow astronaut Charles Bassett two months later. They were the original Gemini 9 crew
vitoduval 1 year ago
No problem on the editing. I'm just thankful I (and we) can see these gems! Nothing like as-it-happened TV coverage...historic stuff. Give me the old days of news coverage.
tm3rd 1 year ago 6
@tm3rd I second that thought!
lunarmodule5 1 year ago 3
Its Safe to say that Wally was a steely eyed missile man on that day. According to a book I read on the Gemini missions. He had his hand on the eject handle and never pulled it. And concerning the results of and ejection from the pad. I don't believe that the chances of survival in a launch pad ejection were pretty slim anyways since I don't believe they had zero/zero seats back then (can someone check on that and let me know plz)
Starwing1272 1 year ago
@Starwing1272 I certainly think that Wally was quite aware that if he had ejected that would have been it for Gemini 6/7.I also think that Wally was aware of the possible consequences to an astronaut if they did eject. He carried that over to Apollo 7, expressing several times his concerns of injury to the crew were it necessary to perform an on-pad abort using the LES.
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@lunarmodule5 -- It was some time in the late 1950's on a test flight of a Convair 990 my dad had his hand on the handle of an ejection chute (a chute in the bottom of the plane so that the crew could clear the slip-stream in a bail-out) when the plane had done a roll and was in a 43,000 FPM, mach .98 dive. He realized that pulling the chute & depressurizing the cabin might end up killing the rest of the crew and he might not surive the bail-out.
Fortunately, the pilot recovered the plane.
nesokretep 10 months ago
@Starwing1272 You're right - no zero/zero seats on Gemini. Gemini was originally slated to land using a "para-wing", which looked like a hang glider, rather than chutes. The seats were designed for an ejection due to para-wing failure. When the para-wing concept was scrapped, the spacraft design had already been locked down, so they kept the seats. A pad eject was always questionable not only due to lack of 0/0 seats, but also because the Titan rocket smoke plume is highly toxic and corrosive
bryantay11 1 year ago
I've always wanted to see TV footage of the Gemini missions.
By the way, Gemeni 6 commander Wally Schriaa was a close friend of Wakletr Cronkite and teamed up with Cronkite to cover many space missions for CBS News.
altfactor 1 year ago
Thank you so much for posting this video! I had been looking for footage of this incident for a long time. This is the one pad abort that's worse than STS-68's pad abort, which occurred at T-1.9 seconds from liftoff. The crew is very fortunate that the pyrotechnic bolts didn't release otherwise the rocket could have exploded on impact even at an inch or two. Schirra and Stafford are TRUE space heroes.
Cellmate412162 1 year ago
This could have easily been the first US space disaster...thank God all went well on that day in '65.
dablommer 1 year ago
@dablommer Yep - it was a good thing Schirra decided to stay with the vehicle and not to eject too. If he had, that would have probably been it for Gemini 6. There would have been no rendezvous with gemini 7. I think Schirra was also worried about the physical ramifications to an astronaut if he had to eject from a Gemini.
lunarmodule5 1 year ago
@lunarmodule5 Iwonder if this is our first RSLS Abort?
MrBennetzen 1 year ago