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Mercury
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Mercury was America's first man-in-space project. The capsule had to be as small as possible to match the payload capability of America's first ICBM, the Atlas, which would be used for orbital missions. The resulting design was less than a third of the weight of the Russian Vostok spacecraft, and more limited as a result.
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Mercury Mark I
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Proposed derivatives of the basic one-crew Mercury capsule for investigation of earth orbit rendezvous, lifting re-entry and land landing. Two-crew derivatives of Mercury, originally designated Mercury Mark II, are covered under 'Gemini'.
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Gemini
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It was obvious to NASA that there was a big gap of three to four years between the last Mercury flight and the first scheduled Apollo flight. There would therefore be no experience in the US in understanding the problems of orbital maneuvering, rendezvous, docking, lifting re-entry, and space walking before the Apollo flights, which required all of these to be successfully accomplished to complete the lunar landing mission. Gemini began as Mercury Mark II to fill this gap.
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Gemini LOR
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Original Mercury Mark II proposal foresaw a Gemini capsule and a single-crew open cockpit lunar lander undertaking a lunar orbit rendezvous mission, launched by a Titan C-3.
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Gemini Lunar Lander
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A direct lunar lander design of 1961, capable of being launched to the moon in a single Saturn V launch through use of a 2-man Gemini re-entry vehicle instead of the 3-man Apollo capsule.
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Gemini-Centaur
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In the first Gemini project plans, it was planned that after a series of test dockings between Gemini and Agena rocket stages, Geminis would dock with Centaur stages for circumlunar flights. This was a threat to Project Apollo and was suppressed.
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Gemini Ferry
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The Gemini Ferry vehicle would have been launched by Titan 3M for space station replenishment. A MOL-type hatch in the heat shield would allow the crew to enter the space station through an Apollo-type probe and drogue hatch at the base of the spacecraft - a design very like the Soviet TKS. Much shorter than the MOL, the cargo module could be left attached to the station and the reentry vehicle return to earth on its own.
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Gemini Transport
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This Gemini Transport version was proposed as a Gemini program follow-on in 1963. With the extended reentry module, this was the ancestor of the Big Gemini spacecraft of the late 1960's.
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Gemini - Saturn I
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In the spring of 1964, with manned Apollo flights using the Saturn I having been cancelled, use of a Saturn I to launch a Gemini around the moon was studied.
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Gemini - Saturn IB
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In late 1964 McDonnell proposed use of the Gemini as a circumlunar spacecraft to scout the Sea of Tranquility prime Apollo landing site and prove navigation and communication systems prior to the first Apollo missions.
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Gemini - Saturn V
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In late 1964 McDonnell, in addition to a Saturn 1B-boosted circumlunar Gemini, McDonnell proposed a lunar-orbit version of Gemini to comprehensively scout the Apollo landing zones prior to the first Apollo missions.
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Gemini Pecan
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In 1964 the MSC Advanced Spacecraft Technology Division formulated a mission flight plan for using a Gemini spacecraft to link up with an orbiting vehicle to achieve a long-duration space mission (dubbed the "Pecan" mission). The two crewmen were to transfer to the Pecan for the duration of the mission.
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Extended Mission Gemini
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A McDonnell concept for using Gemini for extended duration missions. The basic Gemini would dock with an Agena upper stage. Between the docking collar and the Agena was an orbital shelter where the crew would live and work for weeks at a time.
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Gemini - Double Transtage
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In June 1965 astronaut Pete Conrad conspired with the Martin and McDonnell corporations to advocate an early circumlunar flight using Gemini. Discretely called 'Gemini - Large Earth Orbit', the plan would use a Titan 3C-launched Transtage to boost the Gemini to translunar speed.
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Gemini Agena Target Vehicle
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To provide the Gemini spacecraft with a rendezvous and docking target, Agena D rocket stages were modified with the addition of a docking collar, status panel display, and restart capabilities for the Gemini program. After docking, the Agena had sufficient fuel reserves to boost the Gemini into high earth orbits, to the edge of the Van Allen radiation belts.
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Gemini Satellite Inspector
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A modification of Gemini to demonstrate rendezvous and inspection of noncooperative satellites was proposed. The Gemini would rendezvous with the enormous Pegasus satellite in its 500 x 700 km orbit.
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Gemini Lunar Surface Rescue Spacecraft
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This version of Gemini would allow a direct manned lunar landing mission to be undertaken in a single Saturn V flight, although it was only proposed as an Apollo rescue vehicle. The unmanned spacecraft would make a landing near a stranded Apollo lunar module.
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Gemini Observatory
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Proposed version of Gemini for low-earth orbit solar or stellar astronomy. This would be launched by a Saturn S-IB. It has an enlarged reentry module which seems to be an ancestor of the 'Big Gemini' of 1967.
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Gemini Paraglider
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The paraglider was supposed to be used in the original Gemini program but delays in getting the wing to deploy reliably resulted in it not being flown. McDonnell proposed that additional Gemini missions be flown to fully test the paraglider, which was planned for the follow-on Big Gemini.
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Rescue Gemini
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A version of Gemini was proposed for rescue of crews stranded in Earth orbit. This version, launched by a Titan 3C, used a transtage for maneuvering.
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Winged Gemini
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Winged Gemini was the most radical modification of the basic Gemini reentry module ever considered. Drawing on the results of the ASSET subscale winged reentry vehicle program, McDonnell proposed a version of the spacecraft using the same internal systems but capable of a piloted runway landing. It seems the design may have also been part of a covert Air Force program to field a military manned spacecraft at minimum cost.
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Gemini LORV
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This version of Gemini was studied as a means of rescuing an Apollo CSM crew stranded in lunar orbit. The Gemini would be launched unmanned on a translunar trajectory by a Saturn V. Following lunar orbit insertion it would automatically rendezvous with the disabled Apollo. The three Apollo crew members would transfer by a spacewalk to the passenger compartment of the stretched Gemini reentry module. It would then boost itself and the rescued crew to a transearth trajectory. This version was rejected in favor of the more flexible Gemini Lunar Surface Rescue Vehicle.
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Gemini Lunar Surface Survival Shelter
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Prior to an Apollo moon landing attempt, the shelter would be landed, unmanned, near the landing site of a stranded Apollo Lunar Module. In the event the LM ascent stage would not light to take the crew back to the Apollo CSM in lunar orbit, the two astronauts could go to the shelter and await a rescue mission. The astronaut in the CSM would return alone in the Apollo spacecraft.
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Big Gemini
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Big Gemini ('Big G') was proposed by McDonnell Douglas to the US Air Force and NASA in 1967 as a ballistic manned orbital logistics spacecraft to provide economical resupply of planned military and civilian space stations.
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MOL
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MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory) was the US Air Force's manned space project after Dynasoar was cancelled, until it in turn was cancelled in 1969. The earth orbit station used a helium-oxygen atmosphere. The crew rode the station to orbit and returned to earth aboard a Gemini-B capsule that was part of the station - no rendezvous or docking was required. Experiments planned ranged the gamut from military reconnaissance using large optical cameras and side-looking radar, through interception and inspection of satellites, to exploring the usefulness of man in space and test of Manned Maneuvering Units.
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