Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

42 First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
Flying the Gemini Missions
Following two unoccupied orbital test flights, Gemini III, the first crewcarrying
mission, took place on 23 March 1965; it was a three-orbit flight. (The
mission was originally designated GT-3, for Gemini/Titan-3.) Mercury astronaut
Gus Grissom commanded the mission, with John W. Young, a Naval aviator chosen
as an astronaut in 1962, accompanying him. This mission proved to be a huge success
for many reasons, serving “to flight qualify the crew-spacecraft combination as
well as checkout the operational procedures.” The system performed essentially as
intended, although there were a few glitches in the technology that Mission Control
and the astronauts aboard resolved satisfactorily. During this mission, as James
Webb wrote to the President, “the two-man crew maneuvered their craft in orbit
preparing the way for the rendezvous missions to follow. GT-3 also initiated the use
of the Gemini spacecraft as an orbiting laboratory. Astronauts Grissom and Young
also executed the first manned, controlled, lifting reentry” (I-66). 131
Despite the success of Gemini III, or perhaps because of it, the White House
became concerned about the possibility of losing a crew in Earth orbit during a
future mission and questioned NASA and the DOD about plans for space rescue
should they be stranded in orbit (I-59). 132 Both responded with analyses of the
extremely low possibility of losing a crew because they were stranded in orbit, as
well as by acknowledging the extremely risky nature of spaceflight. As Cyrus Vance
told Bill Moyers, “It is possible we may strand an astronaut in orbit some day. It
is very likely that astronauts will be killed, though stranding them is one of the
less likely ways. The nation must expect such a loss of life in the space program.
There have been several deaths already in our rocket development. We would
be untruthful if we were to present any different image to our citizens” (I-60). 133
James Webb opined to President Lyndon B. Johnson, again in a masterpiece of
indirect syntax, that:
. . . in Gemini, we are building on all of the measures for safety that have
come from our extensive experience in test flying and such advanced
systems as the X-15—the measures which have also been instrumental
in achieving our perfect record of astronaut safety thus far. The redundancy
designed into the retro-system for return from orbit is optimized
131. James E. Webb, Administrator, NASA, Cabinet Report for the President, “Significance of
GT-3, GT-4 Accomplishments,” 17 June 1965. Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection,
NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
132. E.C. Welsh, National Aeronautics and Space Council, Executive Office of the President,
Memorandum for the President, “Space Rescue,” 21 May 1965. Folder 18674, NASA Historical
Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
133. Bill Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, The White House, Memorandum for James
Webb, Administrator, NASA, and Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, 29 May 1965, with
attached; Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense,
Memorandum for Mr. Valenti/Mr. Busby, Special Assistants to the President, 29 May 1965, with
attached; Cyrus Vance, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Memorandum for Mr. Bill Moyers, The
White House, “Comments on Need for Space Rescue,” 29 May 1965. Folder 18674, NASA Historical
Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.