1965: Gemini 3 (NASA)

This first manned flight of the Gemini spacecraft was very much a test flight. In a playful reference to the Broadway hit The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grissom nicknamed the Gemini 3 spacecraft "Molly Brown," hoping that it would not duplicate his experience with Liberty Bell 7. (It was the last Gemini to be named by an astronaut.) The mission's primary goal was to test the new, manoeuverable Gemini spacecraft. In space, the crew fired thrusters to change the shape of their orbit, shift their orbital plane slightly, and drop to a lower altitude. Other firsts were achieved on Gemini 3: two people flew aboard an American spacecraft; the first manned re-entry where the spacecraft was able to produce lift to change its touchdown point.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 1965
• nasa
• iaf
• space
• gemini

[jedisociety]

that narrator sounds like optimus prime

[B1900pilot]

Gus Grissom was a national hero, a veteran combat pilot and an outstanding astronaut/engineer.

[airforcemax]

I was born on Sunday, 3 January 1965.

[parkaoz]

@B1900pilot No arguments here.. Vale Gus. All things considered, this mission had a really outstanding crew.

[irish89055]

@El135o yes, my favorite astronaut... esp for what he got to do...

[101southsideboy]

@irish89055 that is correct. But then chief of the astronaut office Deke Slayton was also aware of it

[El135o]

John Young was a hell of an astronaut too: two Gemini, two Apollo (one moon landing), two Shuttle (including the first Columbia flight).

[BigKwell]

@GGE47 Sad thing about Gus.

[pacific707]

The very first space launch that I can remember. Honest! I was 3. I still remember watching it. We had a color TV, and I was transfixed.

[irish89055]

@Roncace  No, it was John Young... Schirra bought it at a deli for him...