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Old 11-19-2022, 04:36 PM
Ez2cDave's Avatar
Ez2cDave Ez2cDave is offline
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Default The "LOST MISSIONS of Gemini" . . .

The "LOST MISSIONS of Gemini" . . .

I found an interesting, albeit limited, website today . . . ENJOY !

https://lostgeminimissions.wordpress.com

Dave F.

Last edited by Ez2cDave : 11-21-2022 at 09:52 PM.
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Old 01-25-2023, 10:31 AM
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Yep there were a LOT of proposals to use Gemini hardware... course none of it actually came to fruition, but a lot of interesting ideas to be sure.

The lunar Gemini was a neat idea... basically launching a lunar mission with a Gemini capsule on a Titan III... use a Centaur stage for propulsion along with a Transtage for lunar orbit insertion and trans-Earth injection, and an unpressurized open lander for the landing. Basically a "hail Mary" play for NASA if Apollo bogged down technically in the timeline and the Soviets suddenly appeared to be bolting ahead in the Moon Race.

Big G was another interesting proposal. Extend the rear cone angle of the Gemini back to 12 feet (IIRC) diameter, make it capable of holding (IIRC) up to 12 astronauts. Install a rearward-facing docking mechanism and hatch (since Gemini's docking mechanism wasn't designed for a pressurized tunnel or anything like that, there was no room for it-- it was simply a latch system designed to lock on and pull two spacecraft together, with an automatic connection block in the case of the Agena Target Vehicle. Even the Manned Orbiting Laboratory would have launched the space station and Gemini stacked together and would have remained in launch configuration in orbit until time to return to Earth, with crew transfer between the capsule and station being accomplished through a hatch cut into the heat shield and a pre-installed tunnel to connect the two spacecraft. This flew an unmanned test and worked fine, but precluded the possibility of another crew docking with the MOL station and entering it, unless of course they spacewalked from their Gemini to the MOL, which it wasn't specifically designed to do. IF MOL had flown more than a handful of missions, they probably would have had to rethink that and come up with something I imagine... tossing the entire station at the end of every mission would have been rather expensive and stupid IMHO.)

Big G's rear docking mechanism would allow it to actually dock and transfer to a station through a pressurized tunnel hatch like Apollo. Ideally Big G would have been launched atop either a Titan III-M (which was going to be manrated for the MOL program) or on Saturn IB, which would have been a much better solution IMHO because it would have kept Saturn IB alive.

Lots of other stuff was proposed for Gemini as well... neat ideas. I put some in my "Study Summaries" here on YORF in the scale section, or over on the Sagitta Cantina website in the forum/Luke's Study area... Got more on my HD I need to summarize as well. Later! OL J R
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