Thursday, March 23, 2017

Gemini 3 launched 1965

Gemini 3 crew: Gus Grissom (L) and John Young

Gemini 3, the first American two-man mission in space and the first flight of NASA's Gemini program, launched from Cape Kennedy March 23, 1965.  Commander Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Pilot John Young made history.  Grissom had nicknamed the spacecraft Molly Brown, after the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, in hopes that the fate of his Mercury flight, Liberty Bell would not repeat itself.  Liberty Bell sank after splashdown.

Although, Gemini 3 did not sink, a miscalculation from the wind tunnel tests put the capsule 45 miles from its intended splashdown point.  Grissom and Young had to wait half an hour before they were recovered.

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