SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Similar in design to the Mercury capsule but much larger, the new Gemini spacecraft was designed to carry two astronauts into Earth orbit to test long-duration flight, rendezvous and docking and other techniques needed for journeys to the moon.

Detailed explanation-2: -The primary goals of Project Gemini included proving the techniques required for the Apollo Program to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s.

Detailed explanation-3: -At 119 hours and six minutes into the flight, Gemini 5 became the longest crewed space mission, surpassing the mark set by Soviet cosmonaut Valeri I. Bykovski aboard Vostok 5 just two years earlier.

Detailed explanation-4: -March 16, 1966: Gemini’s First Docking of Two Spacecraft in Earth Orbit. On March 16, 1966, command pilot Neil Armstrong and pilot David Scott successfully docked their Gemini VIII spacecraft with the Agena target vehicle, the first-ever linking of two spacecraft together in Earth orbit.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Gemini program consisted of a total of 19 launches, 2 initial uncrewed test missions, 7 target vehicles, and 10 crewed missions, each of which carried two astronauts to Earth orbit.

Detailed explanation-6: -Gemini 8 marked the first successful dual launch and docking with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV), completing the world’s first on-orbit docking of two spacecraft. The mission was originally scheduled for three days, but was aborted on the first day in space.

Detailed explanation-7: -Objectives. Gemini VIII was planned to be a three-day mission. After being launched into an 87-by-146-nautical-mile (161 by 270 km) orbit, on the fourth revolution it was to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target vehicle, which had been earlier launched into a 161-nautical-mile (298 km) circular orbit.