Gemini VI-A (foreground) and Gemini VII make the first rendezvous in orbit between two crewed spacecraft, December 15, 1965
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The Gemini astronauts were sixteen pilots who flew in Project Gemini, NASA's second human spaceflight program, between projects Mercury and Apollo. Carrying two astronauts at a time, a senior command pilot and a junior pilot, the Gemini spacecraft was used for ten crewed missions. Four of the sixteen astronauts flew twice.[1][2]
Gemini was the second phase in the United States space program's larger goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" before the end of the 1960s, as proposed by president John F. Kennedy. As an intermediary step, Gemini afforded its astronauts the opportunity to gain critical spaceflight experience, performing tasks required in the later Apollo program which fulfilled this objective. Such tasks included rendezvous or station-keeping with other craft, docking, habitation in space over the course of several days, and flying spacecraft with more than one crew member. Importantly, most individuals who flew as Gemini astronauts returned to space as key personnel in the Apollo program, bringing with them their first-hand experience of the operations carried out during Gemini. Among the Gemini astronauts, six later walked on the Moon, another five flew to the Moon without landing, and two participated in Low Earth orbit Apollo missions. Gus Grissom and Ed White were killed in the Apollo 1 disaster, and former Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper did not perform any further spaceflights.
All Gemini astronauts–excluding the Mercury Seven astronauts already included–were inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993.[3]
Astronaut participation in Project Gemini was also a strong predictor for future achievement during the Apollo Program:
Every Apollo mission commander, including Gus Grissom and with the exception of Alan Shepard, was a Gemini veteran.
All three crew members of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing-Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin-were Gemini veterans.
All three of the men who flew to the Moon twice-Jim Lovell, John Young and Gene Cernan-were Gemini veterans.
With the exception of Elliot See, every member of NASA's second Astronaut Group—the class of nine men selected following the Mercury Seven—flew as a Gemini astronaut.
The Gemini Astronauts[a]
Mission
Command Pilot
Crew Portrait
Pilot
Name
Spaceflight
AG
Service
Name
Spaceflight
AG
Service
Gemini 3
Gus Grissom
Second and last
1
USAF
Young (left), Grissom (right).
John Young
First of six
2
USN
Gemini 4
James McDivitt
First of two
2
USAF
White (left), McDivitt (right).
Ed White
First and only
2
USAF
Gemini 5
Gordon Cooper
Second and last
1
USAF
Conrad (left), Cooper (right).
Pete Conrad
First of four
2
USN
Gemini 7
Frank Borman
First of two
2
USAF
Lovell (left), Borman (right).
Jim Lovell
First of four
2
USN
Gemini 6A
Wally Schirra
Second of three
1
USN
Stafford (left), Schirra (right).
Tom Stafford
First of four
2
USAF
Gemini 8
Neil Armstrong
First of two
2
Civilian[b]
Scott (left), Armstrong (right).
David Scott
First of three
3
USAF
Gemini 9A
Tom Stafford
Second of four
2
USAF
Stafford (left), Cernan (right).
Gene Cernan
First of three
3
USN
Gemini 10
John Young
Second of six
2
USN
Young (left), Collins (right).
Michael Collins
First of two
3
USAF
Gemini 11
Pete Conrad
Second of four
2
USN
Gordon (left), Conrad (right).
Richard Gordon
First of two
3
USN
Gemini 12
Jim Lovell
Second of four
2
USN
Aldrin (left), Lovell (right).
Buzz Aldrin
First of two
3
USAF
^Williams, David (December 30, 2004). "The Gemini Program (1962–1966)". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA.
^"Gemini". Astronautix. Wade, Mark. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
^Clark, Amy (March 14, 1993). "Activities Honor Gemini Astronauts". Florida Today. Cocoa, Florida. p. 41 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Ex-Lieutenant (junior grade) Neil Alden Armstrong, U.S. Naval Reserve, Transcript of Naval Service" (PDF). United States Navy. March 27, 1967. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
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