Project Gemini was the United States' second manned space flight
program, a bridge between the pioneering achievement of Project
Mercury and the yet-to-be realized lunar mission of Project Apollo.
This Chronology, a step in preparing the history of Project Gemini,
marks the completion of the first phase of the study of the Gemini
program and lays the foundation for the narrative history that will
follow. What we have done must stand as an independent work in its
own right. But at the same time, some of its characteristics- in
particular, what it contains and what it omits- can be properly
justified only in terms of the larger whole of which it is a part.
We have deliberately focused this Chronology very narrowly,
excluding much material of undoubted relevance to the background of
events, the context of decision, and to other matters that might be
characterized as the external environment of Project Gemini. In
part this is the inevitable result of a chronological format, which
leaves little scope for explaining and interpreting events. Equally
important, however, was our decision to reserve for the less
restricted confines of a subsequent narrative history our
confrontation with the subtle problems of interpretation and
causation, of controversy and cooperation, of individual
achievements and failures in the Gemini program. Several major
features of this text grew directly from this decision. Our
orientation throughout has been primarily institutional.
Organizations rather than individuals are ordinarily the actors in
events as we describe them. The point of view embodied in most of
the entries is that of Gemini Program Office (the Manned Spacecraft
Center element created to carry through the Gemini program) and of
major Gemini contractors. The events that we have been most
concerned to elucidate are technological - the engineering and
developmental work which transformed the concepts and objectives of
the Gemini program from idea to reality. This Chronology is fully
documented, with sources for each entry in the text cited
immediately after the entry. Our greatest, though not exclusive,
reliance has been on primary sources. Of these, perhaps the most
widely useful have been the various recurring reports issued by
both NASA and contractor organizations. Foremost among these are
the Project Gemini Quarterly Status Reports, the Manned Spacecraft
Center weekly and monthly activity reports and contractor monthly
progress reports. Another extremely useful class of materials
comprises nonrecurring reports and documents, such as working
papers, technical reports, statements of work, mission reports and
analyses, familiarization manuals, and final reports. The third
major body of sources consists of the records of various NASA
organizations, particularly Gemini Program Office records. These
include notes, minutes and abstracts of meetings, official
correspondence, telegrams, memorandums, reading files, and the
like. The most significant achievements of Gemini involved
precision maneuvering in orbit and a major extension of the
duration of manned space flights. These included the first
rendezvous in orbit of one spacecraft with another and the docking
of two spacecraft together. The docking operation allowed the use
of a large propulsion system to carry men to greater heights above
Earth than had been previously possible, thereby enabling the
astronauts to view and photograph Earth over extensive areas.
General
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