Gemini 4

An Astronaut Steps into the Void

David J Shayler author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Springer International Publishing AG

Published:4th Jan '19

Should be back in stock very soon

Gemini 4 cover

The flight of Gemini 4 in June 1965 was conducted barely four years after the first Americans flew in space. It was a bold step by NASA to accomplish the first American spacewalk and to extend the U.S. flight duration record to four days. This would be double the experience gained from the six Mercury missions combined.

This daring mission was the first to be directed from the new Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston, Texas. It also revealed that: 

  • Working outside the spacecraft would require further study.
  • Developing the techniques to rendezvous with another object in space would not be as straightforward as NASA had hoped.
  • Living in a small spacecraft for several days was a challenging but necessary step in the quest for even longer flights.
Despite the risks, the gamble that astronauts Jim McDivitt and Ed White undertook paid off. Gemini 4 gave NASA the confidence to attempt an even longer flight the next time. That next mission would simulate the planned eight-day duration of an Apollo lunar voyage. Its story is recounted in the next title in this series: Gemini 5: Eight Days in Space or Bust.

“This well-researched volume by David Shayler, the author of numerous books about human spaceflight, will be a valuable addition to the bookshelves of anyone interested in the events that took place more than 50 years ago and culminated in humans walking on the Moon.” (Peter Bond, The Observatory, Vol. 139 (1272), October, 2019)

ISBN: 9783319766744

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

378 pages

1st ed. 2018