The Explorers' Club, № MXXI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Gemini 1
8-12 April 1964: Gemini 1 lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, with an unnamed Gemini spacecraft atop a Titan II G.L.V. rocket; pallets of flight instrumentation were installed in place of the crew couches; the mission objective was to evaluate & certify the Titan II G.L.V. for astronauts; holes were drilled in the boilerplate Gemini capsule's heat shield, ensuring burn up during re-entry.

Commentary: When highlighting the fifty-fifth anniversaries of the manned Gemini missions in 2020-2021, I had not yet decided to chronicle unmanned test flights & thus overlooked Project Gemini's two such test flights. I aim to cover both of those sixtieth anniversaries in 2024-2025.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Gemini 1
Less Than Jake, "The Test" from Silver Linings (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.