Mar 23 1965
From The Space Library
GEMINI III spacecraft ("Molly Brown") with Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom (Maj. USAF) as command pilot and Astronaut John W. Young (LCdr., USN) as pilot, was successfully launched from Eastern Test Range on three-orbit GT-3 mission by a two-stage Titan. Within six minutes after lift-off GEMINI III and its two astronauts were injected into elliptical orbit with apogee. 224 km. (139 perigee, 161 km: (100 ; period, 88 min. Speed of spacecraft was 16,600 mph. Toward the end of the first orbit, 93 min. after launching, the first maneuver was performed. Grissom fired two small thruster rockets that pushed "backward" on the spacecraft, slowing it. down by about 45 mph. Lessened velocity caused GEMINI III to drop in altitude to a near-circular orbit with apogee, 169 km. (105 mi.) ; perigee, 158 km. (98 mi.) Second maneuver occurred during second orbit. Astronaut Grissom used the thrusters to turn the spacecraft broadside to its flight path. Then he gave a burst that pushed the craft about 1/50th of a degree from the original course; short bursts fired rapidly, slowed the craft and he turned it into a course nearly parallel to his original one. Third maneuver came in the third orbit. Grissom fired the spacecraft thruster rockets; dropping into an orbit with perigee of 82 km (52 mi) controlling reentry, the astronauts turned the spacecraft's blunt end forward, ejected the section carrying the retrorockets. Four hours and 53 min. after launching, GEMINI III safely landed in the Atlantic Ocean off Grand Turk Island, considerably off target and some 50-60 mi. away from the recovery ship, Intrepid. Navy frogmen from hovering aircraft fastened a float around GEMINI III. Original plans had called for the spacecraft, with the astronauts still inside, to be hoisted aboard the recovery ship and immediate medical checks made. When Grissom became seasick the men were picked up by helicopter and landed on the Intrepid; the spacecraft was recovered later. The astronauts helped perform two experiments. One was the irradiation of human blood to test the combined effects on it of weightlessness and irradiation. The other was to squirt small jets of water into the plasma sheath that surrounded the spacecraft as it reentered the earth's atmosphere, testing a theory that a fluid flowing through the ionized layer of atoms would permit radio signals to penetrate the communications blackout common to reentry. Gemini officials said that, so far as was known, this was the first time a manned spacecraft had maneuvered in orbit, changing its orbital path. (NASA Release 65-81; NASA Transcript; Clark, NYT, 3/24/65, 1, 22; Simons, Wash. Post, 3/24/65; Bishop, WSJ, 3/24/65)
Flight transcript Gemini Titan 3
Gemini Titan 3 transcript air to ground transmission
Composite transcript of onboard and air to ground Gemini Titan 3
Gemini Titan 3 transcript supplemental
RANGER IX underwent a midcourse correction maneuver at 7:03 a.m. EST that would aim the spacecraft more accurately for impact on the moon crater Alphonsus on Mar. 24. The maneuver consisted of a series of radio signals that changed the spacecraft's attitude and then, through a 31-sec. burn of a small jet engine, speeded up its flight by 40.6 mph, RANGER IX was then 175,416 mi. from earth, traveling at 2,943 mph. Newly estimated impact point was 12.9° south latitude and 2.3° west longitude-only four miles from the original target point of 13° south latitude and 2,5° west longitude, Before the correction maneuver, RANGER IX was headed for a point about 400 mi. north of Alphonsus. JPL Director Dr. William H. Pickering said during a press conference that the landing should be well out of the shadow of the towering peak in the center of Alphonsus-a possibility that had caused JPL scientists some concern since light was needed for the picture-taking. (L.A. Times, West, Wash. Post, 3/24/65; Hill, NYT, 3/23/65, 1)
President Johnson told Astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young during a telephone call. "Your mission . . . confirms once again the vital role that man has to play in space exploration, and particularly in the peaceful use of the frontier of space. I am sure you would be the first to say that on this flight, as well as on our other manned flights in space, there were heroes on the ground as well as in space, and the record made by men like Jim Webb, Dr. Dryden, and Dr. Seamans, as well as all of those at the Cape, Cape Kennedy, and around the world, is a very proud record under Project Mercury and now on Project Gemini. And to all of those who have helped to make our space flights safe and successful, I want to . . . say 'Well done'." (Wash. Eve. Star, 3/24/65)
Vice President (and NASC Chairman) Hubert H. Humphrey, visiting Cape Kennedy for the day, congratulated Astronauts Grissom and Young and commended all participants throughout the world for "this tremendous flight of three orbits." . , this step forward commits us to the next project. Once we have completed the Gemini series, we move on to the Apollo Project and we move on even beyond that. . . . Let me say that the American economy is better because of the space program. American education is better because of the space program. American industry is better because of the space program and Americans are better because of the space program. We are emphasizing here one great character of American life-excellence, performance, achievement. . . . These are efforts well made and money well spent. . . ." (Transcript)
Following the GT-3 space flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, NASA Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, said at a press conference: "This particular flight is noteworthy for many reasons. Perhaps most importantly it is the first manned flight of a Gemini vehicle and it represents, then, the first step in the remaining twelve Gemini flights. In this flight . . . we did for the first time carry out an orbital maneuver in space. Another first was the first demonstration of reentry control. We did control reentry landing point on this mission. Another first was the use of Syncom for communications with the Coastal Sentry Quebec during the course of the flight." (NASA Transcript)
AFSC Commander Gen. Bernard A. Schriever said in the keynote address at the Air Force/Industry Planning Seminar in Dayton that "we need a broader perspective and greater vision in our conceptual planning . . . we need to be more farsighted." He continued: "The Soviet Union is making a major effort to surpass us in science and technology. The Soviets now have approximately the same number of scientists and engineers that we have. But every year they graduate an average of 200,000 scientific and technical students as compared with about 120,000 a year in this country. It is also worth noting that the number of scientific institutions in Russia has grown from about 3000 in 1957 to about 5000 in 1965. "Both of these facts indicate that the Soviets are deadly serious when they talk about the importance of science and technology to their global ambitions. We must more than match their effort, not only too maintain our national security but also to keep our world markets." (Text)
World Meteorological Day was celebrated by the 125 member nations of the World Meteorological Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. (Commerce Dept. Release WB)
An editorial in Red Star, the Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper, revealed that the booster that had launched VOSKHOD II had developed 1.43 million lbs. of thrust. The article said Soviet rockets were "unmatched" and that the VOSKHOD II flight "expedites the appearance of orbital stations and the landing of people in the heavenly bodies." (Loory, N.Y . Her. Trib., 3/24/65)
Cape Kennedy and Moscow's Red Square were linked in a British television program, "East Meets West," marking U.S. and Soviet space achievements, First part of the program showed the triumphant return to Moscow of Cosmonauts Pavel Belyayev and Aleksei Leonov. Then the scene switched to Cape Kennedy to show preparations for the GT-3 flight of Astronauts Virgil Grissom and John Young. Both parts were screened "live-the Moscow scenes via Eurovision and the Cape Kennedy one via communications satellite. (AP, Wash; Eve. Star, 3/24/65)
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