NASA's ambitious but essential Gemini Program was culminated in
November 1966 with the launch of Gemini 12 from Kennedy Space
enter's Launch Complex 19. This tenth manned Gemini mission was the
final opportunity to develop and practice many new techniques that
were integral to the upcoming Apollo program. With the successful
conclusion of the Gemini 12 mission, veteran astronaut Command
Pilot James Lovell had set another new record with a total of 18
days in space, and Pilot Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin held the EVA duration
record with an umbilical EVA at the Agena work station of 2 hours
and 9 minutes. In all, three EVA (extra-vehicular activity)
sessions were performed during the mission. Going into the Gemini
12 mission, many questions of EVA procedure were still unresolved.
In the past, astronauts had expended too much energy simply staying
in position. In an effort to better develop techniques and train
astronauts, for the first time, underwater simulation was
incorporated into EVA training. Using a submerged mock-up of the
Gemini-Agena spacecraft, EVA training proceeded almost to the eve
of launch.;Training in the neutral-buoyancy underwater simulation
allowed the astronauts to practice the entire EVA procedure in a
single session - just as they would be required to do in space.
This was a major advance over simulated weightlessness in aircraft
parabolic flights, which provided only 30 seconds of weightlessness
at a stretch. Gemini 12 successfully executed a fuelless
station-keeping exercise for 4 hours and 20 minutes with the use of
a dacron tether between the Gemini and Agena vehicles. Once the
tether had been pulled taut, the reaction control systems for both
vehicles were turned off, and the slight difference in the Earth's
gravitational effect on the two space vehicles was sufficient to
keep the tether taut, so the two spacecraft remained at a constant
separation, without the use of any reaction control fuel. Despite
mission changes brought on by a radar lock-on failure and by a
malfunction of the Agena Primary Propulsion System (PPS), the
Gemini 12 mission was considered to be a major success, continuing
the success story of the entire Gemini program.;Apollo could take
man to the Moon only after Gemini had introduced him to the space
environment and taught him how to perform there. CD included.
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