The Explorers' Club Special: Gemini XII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Gemini XII
11 November 1966: Gemini XII lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, carrying Command Pilot Jim Lovell & Pilot "Buzz" Aldrin aboard a Gemini spacecraft atop a Titan II G.L.V. rocket; they rendezvoused & docked with their Agena Target Vehicle, but anomalies with its main engine precluded boosting into a higher altitude; they observed a total solar eclipse on 12 November.

15 November 1966: Aldrin conducted three E.V.A.s—two stand-ups & one two-hour excursion outside the capsule—without encountering the difficulties that had plagued previous E.V.A.s; the triumph was attributable to pre-flight neutral buoyancy (water) training, additional handholds & footholds, & scheduled rest periods; they splashed down in the Atlantic & were recovered by the U.S.S. Wasp.

Commentary: Project Gemini was conceived almost as an afterthought, but was a necessary bridge between the pioneering flights of Mercury & Apollo's conquest of the Moon. N.A.S.A. planned the first manned Apollo flight, AS-204, for 21 February 1967, but its doubtful Kennedy's goal could have been achieved without Gemini XII solving Extravehicular Activity, a puzzle that had bedeviled Gemini IX-A, Gemini X, & Gemini XI (& almost certainly would have bedeviled Gemini VIII if they hadn't been forced to make an emergency re-entry). The tools & techniques pioneered for Gemini XII—plenteous foot restraints & tethers, build-in rest periods, neutral-buoyancy training—are still staples of E.V.A. six decades later.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Gemini XII
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCL: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini XII, Part I
Space Race Song o' the Day
Space Race Song o' the Day
Space Race Song o' the Day
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCLI: The 55th Anniversary of Gemini XII, Part II

Semper exploro.