Product Description

On 4 December 1965 NASA launched the Gemini 7 spacecraft, on a Titan II booster, putting Frank Borman and James A Lovell Jr into Earth orbit. Before men could journey to the Moon, new hardware and many new procedures had to be developed and tested. The Gemini VII mission was an important milestone along the path to Apollo. Astronauts Frank Borman, command pilot, and James LovelI, pilot, aboard Gemini VII set a record for space mission duration - over 330 hours (14 days) initiating the era in which space missions were to be measured in days instead of mere hours. Gemini VII, in concert with Gemini VI, also performed the first-ever orbital rendezvous and station keeping. Another 'first' associated with the mission was the rapid turn-around of a launch facility. The Gemini VI mission (delayed from its original 25 October launch date) was launched from the same pad as Gemini VII, only days later, rather than after the normal two-month turn-around time. Both Borman and LovelI both went on to fly Apollo missions, Borman commanding the first manned space flight to orbit the moon. During this 14 day period, the Gemini 7 mission achieved some remarkable 'firsts' - manned 'station keeping' (formation flying) and 'proximity operations' (relative manoeuvring in orbit) with the Gemini 6 spacecraft, and performed more than 20 scientific experiments. This report includes some of the rare official documentation of this historic voyage which has been collected and made commercially available for the first time. Includes a CD-ROM featuring: MPG video, Proud Conquest Part II; 16mm In-flight footage; High resolution Earth photographs taken from Gemini VII.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #980134 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
"An invaluable resource for anyone interested in understanding mission objectives..." -- Spaceflight, November 2002. "Overall a good buy for the space fanatic..." -- The Observatory, June 2003. Reviewed in Telescopium, the Journal of the Swedish Astronomical Society, Spring 2003.

About the Author
Robert Godwin, Editor

Customer Reviews

14 Days in a spacecraft smaller than the front of a VW!
The long awaited next book in Robert Godwins Nasa Mission Reports is Gemini 7. This book compliments the earlier release of the Gemini 6 Mission Reports (the entire series is set to cover Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and the Shuttle) and contains the usual contents of Nasa documents, the crew's technical de-brief for the mission and a CD-ROM containing some earth observation pictures taken by the crew and the 2nd part of the Gemini 6/7 Nasa video (part 1 is on the Gemini 6 CD-ROM) and an interview about the flight with Jim Lovell.
The crew de-brief section makes fascinating reading, as you have to remember that when Gemini 7 flew (1965) questions were still being asked about a human-being's ability to spend long periods in zero-G.
This book is a must for those who are collecting the entire series as it compliments previous titles well.
My only complaint would be that there is not enough material on the CD-ROM, as I would have liked to have seen more mission audio or video and I wonder if Mr Godwin has thought about putting the written Mission Transcripts of the air-to-ground communications on it?
All in all a great book to indulge in if you like spaceflight. I have spent 3 hours in the front of a VW....I do not know if I could spend 14 days...although if I was in zero-G...well I just might consider it!