Gemini II

Occurred 61 years ago

Gemini II, the second mission of NASA’s Gemini program, was a suborbital uncrewed test flight that took place on Jan. 19, 1965.

Mission Type

Uncrewed Test Flight

mission duration

18 minutes, 16 seconds

Launch

Jan. 19, 1965

Landing

Jan. 19, 1965

Image taken through the window of a spacecraft during reentry, showing wisps of flame against the blue limb of the Earth and the blackness of space.

View from a camera mounted on a cockpit window during Gemini II’s reentry.

NASA

Objectives

Gemini II was the second uncrewed Gemini test mission, consisting of a sub-orbital ballistic flight and reentry with the primary objectives being to demonstrate the adequacy of the spacecraft reentry module’s heat protection during a maximum heating rate return, the structural integrity of the spacecraft, and the performance of spacecraft systems. Secondary objectives included obtaining test results on communications, cryogenics, fuel cell and reactant supply system, and further qualification of the launch vehicle.

Mission Facts

Payload: Gemini 2

Mass at launch: 3,133.9 kg

Launch Date: Jan. 19, 1965, 9:03:59 a.m. EST (14:03:59 UT)

Launch Site: Complex 19, Cape Canaveral, United States

Launch Vehicle: Titan II

Maximum Altitude: 171.2 km

Duration: 18 minutes, 16 seconds

Landing Date: Mar. 23, 1965, 2:16:31 EST (19:16:31 UT)

Landing Site: Near Grand Turk Island, 22.43° N, 70.85° W

Recovery Ship: U.S.S. Lake Champlain

The Gemini Titan II Launch Vehicle lifts off

Launching of the unmanned Gemini II flight on January 19, 1965. The second Titan II Gemini Launch Vehicle (GLV-2) carried the instrumented Gemini spacecraft (GT-2) for a suborbital shot preliminary to the first U.S. two-man Gemini mission.

NASA

Mission Overview

Gemini II was launched successfully from Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy on Jan. 18, 1965, at 9:03:59 a.m. EST (14:03:59.861 UT) to a maximum altitude of 171.2 km. The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch retrorockets were fired and the spacecraft cartwheeled into a reentry attitude. Eighteen minutes 16 seconds after launch, the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and landed by parachute in the Atlantic Ocean 3,419 km southeast of the launch site. The landing was 26 km short of the planned impact point. The spacecraft was successfully recovered by the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lake Champlain, which was 84 km from the splashdown point, at 15:52 UT (10:52 a.m. EST). All goals were achieved except test results on the fuel cells because the system had failed before liftoff and was turned off. The capsule was in excellent condition and the heat shield and retrorockets functioned as planned. The temperature in the cooling system of the spacecraft was found to be too high.