A Gemini IV mission turns 61 this Wednesday (3). The flight was launched on June 3, 1965 and carried the astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White to one four-day journey in Earth orbitbeing one of the most decisive of the space race. The mission included the first American spacewalk, a milestone that placed the United States in a more balanced position in the technological dispute with the Soviet Union.
A Gemini IV was the second manned mission of the Gemini Program. The main objective was evaluate the performance of astronauts and the capsule on longer duration flightsin addition to test procedures and plan missions even longer.
White left the capsule at 2:46 pm (Brasília time) on June 3, 1965becoming the first American to walk in space. It was connected to the ship by an eight-meter cable and used a manual gas thruster to move, as the equipment’s fuel ran out in three minutes. After that, White pulled the cable and turned his body to move around the ship.
A extravehicular activity lasted 23 minutes. Upon returning, the crew faced difficulty sealing the hatch, but managed to close it by working together.
Altogether, the mission completed 62 orbits around Earth and lasted 97 hours, 56 minutes and 12 seconds. The capsule landed in the Western Atlantic on June 7, 1965 and was recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. The four day journey broke the previous American record for 34 hours spent in space during the Mercury 9 mission.
They were carried out 11 experiments during flight, in the areas of engineering, medicine, space sciences and defense. Everyone was successfully completed. O The only unfulfilled objective was to rendezvous — controlled approach with the rocket’s upper stage —, canceled after 42% of the fuel was consumed at the beginning of the mission, to preserve other operations.
The historical context and protagonists
A mission took place in the middle of the Cold War. Just three months earlier, in March 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov had performed the first spacewalk in historyexpanding the USSR’s advantage in the race for space. Gemini IV demonstrated that the Americans were capable of sustaining longer-duration flights and carrying out activities outside the capsule — essential capabilities for the future mission to the Moon.
James McDivittmission commander, would return to space as commander of Apollo 9in 1969, when he piloted the first complete flight of the Apollo suite, including the lunar module. No total, McDivitt recorded more than 14 days in space before retiring from NASA in 1972. He was awarded two NASA Distinguished Service Medals and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. . According to , the former was surrounded by his family and friends.
Edward White was selected for the crew of the first Apollo mission. He died on January 27, 1967, in the Apollo 1 fireduring a ground test at Cape Kennedy, alongside astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee.
