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How NASA Learned to Fly in Space: An Exciting Account of the Gemini Missions: Apogee Books Space Series 46

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The Gemini program is the middle child of human spaceflight; Mercury is the first and therefore well remembered and Apollo is the over-achieving younger sibling who gains fame and fortune. In the mix Gemini is often forgotten. David Harland's book helps to rescue the program from its obscurity. While it was initially conceived before Apollo got underway in 1961, after the commitment to the Moon landing Gemini morphed into a program to develop the skills necessary to reach the Moon. NASA closed most of the gap by experimenting and training on the ground, but some issues required experience in space. Three major areas immediately arose where this was the case. The first was the ability in space to locate, maneuver toward, and rendezvous and dock with another spacecraft. The second was closely related, the ability of astronauts to work outside a spacecraft. The third involved the collection of more sophisticated physiological data about the human response to extended spaceflight.

To gain experience in these areas before Apollo could be readied for flight, NASA devised Project Gemini. Hatched in the fall of 1961 by engineers at Robert Gilruth's Space Task Group in cooperation with McDonnell Aircraft Corp. technicians, builders of the Mercury spacecraft, Gemini started as a larger Mercury Mark II capsule but soon became a totally different proposition. It could accommodate two astronauts for extended flights of more than two weeks. It pioneered the use of fuel cells instead of batteries to power the ship, and incorporated a series of modifications to hardware. Its designers also toyed with the possibility of using a paraglider being developed at Langley Research Center for "dry" landings instead of a "splashdown" in water and recovery by the Navy. The whole system was to be powered by the newly developed Titan II launch vehicle, another modified ballistic missile developed for the Air Force. A central reason for this program was to perfect techniques for rendezvous and docking, so NASA appropriated from the military some Agena rocket upper stages and fitted them with docking adapters.

Problems with the Gemini program abounded from the start. The Titan II had longitudinal oscillations, called the pogo effect because it resembled the behavior of a child on a pogo stick. Overcoming this problem required engineering imagination and long hours of overtime to stabilize fuel flow and maintain vehicle control. The fuel cells leaked and had to be redesigned, and the Agena reconfiguration also suffered costly delays. NASA engineers never did get the paraglider to work properly, and eventually they dropped it from the program in favor of a parachute system like the one used for Mercury. All these difficulties shot an estimated $350 million program to over $1 billion. The overruns were successfully justified by the space agency, however, as necessities to meet the Apollo landing commitment.

By the end of 1963 most of the difficulties with Gemini had been resolved and the program was ready for flight. Following two unoccupied orbital test flights, the first operational mission took place on March 23, 1965. Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom commanded the mission, with John W. Young, a naval aviator chosen as an astronaut in 1962, accompanying him. The next mission, flown in June 1965, stayed aloft for four days, and astronaut Edward H. White II performed the first American extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk. Eight more missions followed through November 1966. Despite problems great and small encountered on virtually all of them, the program achieved its goals. Additionally, as a technological learning program, Gemini had been a success, with 52 different experiments performed on the 10 missions. The bank of data acquired from Gemini helped bridge the gap between Mercury and what would be required to complete Apollo within the time constraints directed by the president.

This story is well-told in Harland's account. It is not an official history of the program, but concentrates on the story of the planning for and the execution of the 10 human Gemini missions. For the official history see "On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini" (NASA SP-4203, 1977), by Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood. This is available on-line at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/cover.htm.

I love this book. It explains in an easy to read format just how important the Gemini program was in getting us to the moon. Gemini was described as a test pilots dream and this book shows why, with many stories I had not previously been aware of and I read lots of space books. I am very pleased to see Apogee Books branching out with books by exceptionally talented authors like Harland.

Just finished David Harland's account of Project Gemini, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Harland does a great job of explaining the nuts and bolts of this often overlooked program. His account of the intricacies of mastering both rendezvous and EVA demonstrate that without Gemini, Apollo just doesn't happen. Many great photos accompany the text, and it is too bad that Apogee decided against a CD with this book.

I ordered this book as soon as I saw it advertised on Amazon.com The gemini missions gave us great pictures of spaceships in close proximity and great pictures of earth. I always remember wanting to know more.
Although this particular book does not show many color photos, the history outlined here is excellent. The crew conversations covered areas that I've not read before.
I did think that a few areas were glossed over but to no major detriment to the overall info obtained.
If you like this space stuff, buy this book.

"How NASA Learned To Fly In Space" is, as the sub-title says, "An exciting account of the Gemini missions." Gemini, the bridge between Mercury and Apollo, is often overlooked, yet these missions stand as a testament to the skill, flexibility, adaptability, and creativity of the Gemini engineers and astronauts - taking space exploration from the knowledge that man can live in space (Mercury) through to the successful Moon landings (Apollo) - learning all the way. In this book, David Harland gives the reader an incredible sense of the achievements and dangers of each of the ten Gemini missions. The reader feels as though he has been taken along for the ride with the astronauts. This book is a must-have for any space-exploration library!

This is a very readable account of the Gemini missions of 1965-66 which were launched at the breathtaking pace of one every other month. Harland intersperses accounts of the plannning and execution of the missions with the dialogue of the astronauts and mission controllers in such an absorbing way that it is difficult to put the book down at times. The intricacies of orbital rendesvous are explained lucidly and should be easy to follow by anyone with basic technical knowledge.
The photos are in sharp black and white and complement the text nicely. A lot of them first appeared in the original Nasa Fact Sheets which I still have.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in spaceflight as it comprehensively covers a programme which is all too often overshadowed by the glamour of project Apollo.

Lots of good reviews here, but I just wanted to say that what made this book for me were great personalities like Wally Schirra, who (rightly) brags about his first rendezvous in space while (again rightly) trashing the Soviet Union's claims of rendezvous.

The Gemini spacecraft was a dream, too, and we learned a hell of a lot while using it. This book captures those pioneering days well.

This is clearly one of the best works in the Apogee space series. On one hand it serves as a history of the Gemini program. On the other and it introduces the reader to simple celestial mechanics and orbital rendeveous. It wets the appetite for more orbital mechanics. Okay Apogee when will that be coming?

I really enjoyed this book. I describes the Gemini missions as I remember watching them unfold on televsion and reading about them in Time, Life and National Geographic magazines as a kid. All the drama is there and it is much easier to read than the NASA histories.

The Gemini program dominated the public conciousness of the US space program for two years from April 1965 until the final flight in the latter part of 1966. The first spacewalk, the double mission of Gemini 6 & 7 before Christmas in 1965, the Agena missions and spacewalks of 1966 all prepared us for the greater glories to come in the Apollo program. The space photography accomplished during the missions provided the clearest view yet of how earth looked from space. David Harland's book (consistent with other books he's written) provides a wonderful narrative of the Gemini program and missions and takes us back to the time when we realized we may actually get to the moon.