Documenting the Arrival of Gemini 12 at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago

Fellow Astronomers, Space enthusiasts and BAUT members,

I recently had the grand opportunity to document the arrival of the
Gemini XII space capsule at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. A
bright morning found the capsule gleeming in the sunshine on a truck
bed as I arrived...and here was an actual piece of American history
presented right before me.



A full account of the event with detailed pictures can be found here
at the Chicago Astronomer:


It is broken into three chronological threads for easier viewing.

As individuals of science and space exploration, I'm sure you will
enjoy this report...

Respectfully,

Chicago Astronomer Joe

30 most recent posts:
http://astronomer.proboards23.com/in...i?ction=recent

__________________
Joseph Guzmán
Administrator
The Chicago Astronomer
www.chicagoastronomer.com
http://astronomer.proboards23.com

Telescope/Observatory Operator
Adler Planetarium & Museum

"We are all in the gutter,
But some of us are looking at the stars..."
Oscar Wilde - 1854-1900

Looks a bit cramped in there, especially considering they were wearing spacesuits the entire mission.

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

They were cramped. On Gemini 7, they were in the thing for nearly two weeks. I don't have much claustrophobia - I have no problem working or being in a tight location (tight caves and crawlspaces are fine with me) but I would have serious trouble being in a small capsule for two weeks, knowing that I was stuck there for all that time.

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I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

I get antsy in sitting in cars bigger than that for a few hours. It'd be interested asking one of the astronauts about it.

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

I've had a chance to look at that now. Those are nice photos! I really liked the interior shots. I remember Apollo (later missions at least) well, but was a bit young for Gemini. I do remember building a very detailed Gemini model. It is surprising how many details you can learn doing that.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Thank you for the kudos.

The images do not properly relay the actual experience of observing all the minutia of the capsule....1960's materials, all throw switches and how small it actually is. And that this damned thing actually supported two humans in the vacuum of space. I detest long car drives, and this cramped little space would do it to me. But I guess with all the excitement of anxiety of the mission, the time goes by pretty quickly.

The exterior didn't show as much wear as one would think from re-entry...but the heat shield felt rough and pitted. There was a lot of wear on the arm rests and foot rests...but I think that's since the 1966 mission from repair crews and other individuals. Trusting this metal capsule to bring you home is a testiment to the early astronauts.

I wanted to get real close up shots...and should have, but the hubbub all around was distracting and the PR person wasn't too accomodating or friendly.

But great that you enjoyed the shots...I know I had a great time.

__________________
Joseph Guzmán
Administrator
The Chicago Astronomer
www.chicagoastronomer.com
http://astronomer.proboards23.com

Telescope/Observatory Operator
Adler Planetarium & Museum

"We are all in the gutter,
But some of us are looking at the stars..."
Oscar Wilde - 1854-1900

Just out of interest, why was the capsule itself not reusable at all?

Surely it would be a matter of adding a new heat shield?

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

If you think a Gemini capsule is cramped (and it was!), take a look at the inside of a Mercury capsule. There was barely enough room for a man to sit and the man couldn't be taller than about 5' 8". Fortunately, the longest Mercury mission only lasted about 30 hours. However, on that mission, virtually all of the systems failed.

Gordon Cooper's Mercury Flight

Just out of interest, why was the capsule itself not reusable at all?


Part of the problem was that the capsules landed in the ocean, leading to possible concerns about corrosion. Perhaps they thought that the amount of work involved in tearing everything down and making sure things are ready for the next flight just weren't worth it. Given the rapidly developing state of the art at the time, they were probably right.

What I like to think about is how far a capsule could have gotten from Earth on an escape trajectory in two weeks. Just the kind of weird space romantic I am.

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"Call me old-fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me a lot."

--The State

My guess is, that additional engineering validation protocols would have been required before the re-use of the Gemini capsule for manned flight. The timescale of the program was too short to allow for this.

In fact, the Gemini 2 capsule was re-used, in a re-entry test for the MOL program. On both flights it was unmanned.