Editing Gemini 2

{{Short description|Second American Gemini program spaceflight}}
{{hatnote group|
{{hatnote|This article is about the 1965 U.S. space mission}}
{{redirect|Gemini-Titan II|the launch system|Titan II GLV}}
}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = Gemini 2
| image                 = Gemini2reentry.jpg
| image_caption         = The atmospheric re-entry of Gemini 2 viewed through a pilot's window
| mission_type          = [[Flight test]]
| operator              = [[NASA]]<ref name="Orloff">{{cite book |last1=Hacker |first1=Barton C. |last2=Grimwood |first2=James M. |title=On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/toc.htm |access-date=12 September 2013 |series=NASA History Series |orig-year=First published 1977 |date=February 2003 |publisher=[[NASA]] |location=Washington, D.C. |id=NASA SP-4203 |chapter=Table of Contents |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/toc.htm |archive-date=January 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113132344/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/toc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| mission_duration      = 18&nbsp;minutes, 14&nbsp;seconds
| suborbital_range      = {{cvt|3422.4|km|mi nmi|0}}
| suborbital_apogee     = {{cvt|171.1|km|mi nmi|0}}
| spacecraft            = [[Gemini (spacecraft)|Gemini]] SC2
| manufacturer          = [[McDonnell Aircraft|McDonnell]]
| launch_mass           = 
| landing_mass          =
| launch_date           = {{Start date text|January 19, 1965, 14:04:00|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;[[UTC]] (9:04&nbsp;am&nbsp;[[Eastern Standard Time|EST]])
| launch_rocket         = {{nowrap|[[Titan II GLV]],}} {{nowrap|s/n 62-12557}}
| launch_site           = [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Kennedy]], [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 19|LC-19]]
| landing_date          = {{End date text|January 19, 1965, 14:22:14|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC (9:22:14&nbsp;am&nbsp;EST)
| landing_site          = [[Atlantic Ocean]] ({{coord|16|36|N|49|46|W|}})
| recovery_by           = {{USS|Lake Champlain|CV-39|6}}
| insignia              = <!-- Mission had no insignia; do not replace Gemini program insignia -->
| programme             = [[Project Gemini]]
| previous_mission      = [[Gemini 1]]
| next_mission          = [[Gemini 3]]
}}

'''Gemini 2''' ('''Gemini-Titan 2'''; '''GT-2''')<ref name=NSSDCA-GEMINI2>{{cite web |url= https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=GEMINI2 |title= Gemini 2 |id= GEMINI2 |work= NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) |publisher= NASA |date= 2017 }}</ref> was the second [[spaceflight]] of the American [[human spaceflight]] program [[Project Gemini]], and was launched and recovered on January 19, 1965. Gemini 2, like [[Gemini 1]], was an uncrewed mission intended as a [[Flight test|test flight]] of the Gemini [[spacecraft]]. Unlike Gemini 1, which was placed into orbit, Gemini 2 made a [[suborbital]] flight, primarily intended to test the spacecraft's [[Atmospheric reentry|heat shield]]. It was launched on a [[Titan II GLV]] rocket. The [[Gemini spacecraft No. 2|spacecraft used for the Gemini 2 mission]] was later refurbished into the [[Gemini B]] configuration, and was subsequently launched on another suborbital flight, along with [[OPS 0855]], as a test for the US Air Force [[Manned Orbital Laboratory]]. [[Gemini spacecraft No. 2|Gemini spacecraft no. 2]] was the first craft to make more than one spaceflight since the [[X-15]], and the only one until [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] flew its [[STS-2|second mission]] in 1981; it would also be the only space capsule to be reused until [[Crew Dragon Endeavour|Crew Dragon ''Endeavour'']] was launched a [[SpaceX Crew-2|second time]] in 2021.

== Mission history ==

=== GLV ===
The Titan II/Gemini launch vehicle was dismantled to protect it from two hurricanes in August and September 1964. The [[Multistage rocket|second stage]] of the vehicle was taken down and stored in a [[hangar]] on August 26, 1964, in preparation for [[Hurricane Cleo]], and the entire [[launch vehicle]] was subsequently dismantled and removed from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Kennedy Air Force Station]]'s [[Launch pad|Launch Complex]] [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 19|19]] in early September before [[Hurricane Dora (1964)|Hurricane Dora]] passed over [[Cape Canaveral|Cape Kennedy]] on September 9. The Gemini launch vehicle was erected for the final time on 12 September 1964.

[[File:S64-40298.jpg|thumb|The prime and backup crews for [[Gemini 3]], [[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]] (suited), [[Wally Schirra]], [[Thomas P. Stafford]] (in shirtsleeves), and [[Gus Grissom]] (suited), practice egress from the Gemini 2 pad, in preparation for the upcoming Gemini 3 flight]]

Many ground tests were carried out on the Gemini 2 and [[Titan (rocket family)|Titan rocket]] in November 1964. On November 24, Gemini-Titan (GT) 2 successfully completed the Wet Mock Simulated Launch, a full-scale countdown exercise which included propellant loading. Procedures for flight crew [[Space suit|suiting]] and spacecraft ingress and egress were practiced during simulated launch. The prime flight crew for [[Gemini 3]] donned pressure suits and full biomedical instrumentation, assisted by their backup crew and the space suit bioinstrumentation and aeromedical personnel who would participate in the GT-3 launch operation. As a result of this practice operation, it was established that all physical examinations, bioinstrumentation sensor attachment, and suit donning would be done in the pilot ready room at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 16|Launch Complex 16]].

Gemini 2 had been scheduled for launch on December 9, 1964. On that date, the countdown reached zero and the first stage engines were ignited. The launch vehicle's Malfunction Detection System detected technical problems due to a loss of [[hydraulic pressure]] and shut down the engines about one second after ignition.

On the second launch attempt on January 19, 1965, Gemini 2 lifted off from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy at 14:03:59.861&nbsp;UTC (9:04&nbsp;am&nbsp;EST).

Shortly after launch the [[Mission Control Center]] suffered a power outage. Control of the mission was transferred to a tracking ship.  The outage was later traced to an overload of the electrical system from the network television equipment used to cover the launch.<ref>Chris Kraft, ''Flight'', p. 206.</ref>

Gemini 2 flew a ballistic suborbital arc over the [[Atlantic Ocean]] reaching a maximum altitude of {{convert|171.1|km|mi nmi}}. The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch, [[retrorocket]]s were fired. The spacecraft landed {{convert|3,422.4|km|mi nmi}} downrange from the launch pad at 14:22:14&nbsp;UTC (9:22:14&nbsp;am&nbsp;EST). The flight lasted 18&nbsp;minutes 16&nbsp;seconds. The landing was {{convert|26|km|mi nmi}} short of the planned impact point, and {{convert|45|nmi|km}} from the recovery aircraft carrier, {{USS|Lake Champlain|CV-39|6}}. The spacecraft was brought aboard the carrier at 15:52&nbsp;UTC (10:52&nbsp;am&nbsp;EST). Most goals were achieved, except the [[fuel cell]]s had failed before liftoff and were turned off. The spacecraft cooling system temperature also was found to be too high. The Gemini 2 spacecraft was in excellent condition. Its heat shield and retrorockets functioned as expected. The Gemini 2 mission was supported by 6,562 [[United States Department of Defense]] personnel, 67 aircraft, and 16 ships.

Gemini 2 had flight instrumentation pallets installed in the crew cabin, similar to [[Gemini 1#Instrument pallets|those in Gemini 1]].

=== MOL ===
The Gemini 2 [[Reentry capsule|reentry module]] was refurbished and flown again on November 3, 1966, in a test flight for the [[United States Air Force]] [[Manned Orbiting Laboratory]] program. It was launched on a [[Titan III]]C rocket on a 33-minute suborbital flight from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40|LC-40]] at Cape Kennedy. It is the only Gemini spacecraft to have flown with U.S. Air Force insignia, but there is an unflown [[Gemini B]] spacecraft in USAF markings on display at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] in [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], [[Ohio]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="240px" perrow="3">
File:Titan-3C MOL-Gemini-B-Test 3.jpg|SC2 is launched for a second time aboard a Titan 3C in November 1966, on a suborbital test flight for the USAF [[Manned Orbiting Laboratory|MOL]] project.
File:Gemini2racks.jpg|Gemini 2 instrument pallets (NASA)
File:Gemini2x.jpg|Gemini 2 spacecraft on display at the [[Air Force Space and Missile Museum]], [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]], [[Florida]].
File:Gemini2xrear.jpg|Gemini 2 spacecraft on display at the Air Force Space and Missile Museum, Cape Canaveral.
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[Gemini program]]
*[[Manned Orbiting Laboratory]]
*[[Titan (rocket family)]]
*[[Titan III]]
*[[List of NASA missions]]
*[[Splashdown (spacecraft landing)]]

== References ==
{{Include-NASA}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650018359_1965018359.pdf Manned Space Flight Network Performance Analysis for the GT-2 Mission – NASA – May 14, 1965 (PDF)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090621232257/https://mira.hq.nasa.gov/history/ws/hdmshrc/all/main/DDD/39982.pdf NASA Gemini 2 press kit – December 4. 1964]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t3cIGqEM2I presentation on the Gemini 2 and the Manned Orbital Laboratory spacecraft on display at the Air Force Space and Missile Museum]
*{{YouTube| K6f6sKFbDD8 | Gemini II reentry at real speed – HD source }}

{{Gemini program|state=expanded}}
{{NASA space program}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemini 02}}
[[Category:Project Gemini missions]]
[[Category:1965 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched by Titan rockets]]
[[Category:Spacecraft which reentered in 1965]]
[[Category:January 1965]]