21 August 1965: Gemini V lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, with Command Pilot Gordon Cooper & Pilot Pete Conrad aboard a Gemini spacecraft atop a Titan II G.L.V. rocket, the first capsule powered by fuel cells instead of batteries; the primary mission was to double Gemini IV's then-record four days spent on orbit, simulating the eight days needed to fly to & from the Moon.
Commentary: Cooper & Conrad were the first crew to fly their mission patch into space; the patches for the six manned Mercury flights & Geminis 3 & IV were designed retroactively. There was a twist to the Gemini V mission patch, as we shall see when our intrepid duo fall back to Earth in eight days.
Bonus! Space Race Song o' Gemini V
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "On the Road Again" from Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Love Their Country (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)
Commentary: With the liftoff of Gemini V, Gordon Cooper Jr. became the first person, not just the first American, to fly two orbital missions. As we shall see, Gemini V marked a decisive turning point in the Space Race between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics & the United States of America.
Semper exploro.
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