Géminis 2

El cohete lanzador Titan II/Gemini fue desmantelado para protegerlo de dos huracanes en agosto y septiembre de 1964. La segunda etapa del cohete fue desmontada y almacenada en un hangar el 26 de agosto de 1964, en preparación para el huracán Cleo , y posteriormente todo el cohete fue desmantelado y retirado del Complejo de Lanzamiento 19 de la Estación de la Fuerza Aérea de Cabo Kennedy a principios de septiembre, antes de que el huracán Dora pasara por Cabo Kennedy el 9 de septiembre. El cohete lanzador Gemini fue erigido por última vez el 12 de septiembre de 1964.

Many ground tests were carried out on the Gemini 2 and Titan rocket in November 1964. On November 24, Gemini-Titan (GT) 2 successfully completed the Wet Mock Simulated Launch, a full-scale countdown exercise which included propellant loading. Procedures for flight crew suiting and spacecraft ingress and egress were practiced during simulated launch. The prime flight crew for Gemini 3 donned pressure suits and full biomedical instrumentation, assisted by their backup crew and the space suit bioinstrumentation and aeromedical personnel who would participate in the GT-3 launch operation. As a result of this practice operation, it was established that all physical examinations, bioinstrumentation sensor attachment, and suit donning would be done in the pilot ready room at Launch Complex 16.

Gemini 2 had been scheduled for launch on December 9, 1964. On that date, the countdown reached zero and the first stage engines were ignited. The launch vehicle's Malfunction Detection System detected technical problems due to a loss of hydraulic pressure and shut down the engines about one second after ignition.

On the second launch attempt on January 19, 1965, Gemini 2 lifted off from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy at 14:03:59.861 UTC (9:04 am EST).

Shortly after launch the Mission Control Center suffered a power outage. Control of the mission was transferred to a tracking ship. The outage was later traced to an overload of the electrical system from the network television equipment used to cover the launch.^[3]

Gemini 2 flew a ballistic suborbital arc over the Atlantic Ocean reaching a maximum altitude of 171.1 kilometres (106.3 mi; 92.4 nmi). The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch, retrorockets were fired. The spacecraft landed 3,422.4 kilometres (2,126.6 mi; 1,847.9 nmi) downrange from the launch pad at 14:22:14 UTC (9:22:14 am EST). The flight lasted 18 minutes 16 seconds. The landing was 26 kilometres (16 mi; 14 nmi) short of the planned impact point, and 45 nautical miles (83 km) from the recovery aircraft carrier, USS Lake Champlain. The spacecraft was brought aboard the carrier at 15:52 UTC (10:52 am EST). Most goals were achieved, except the fuel cells had failed before liftoff and were turned off. The spacecraft cooling system temperature also was found to be too high. The Gemini 2 spacecraft was in excellent condition. Its heat shield and retrorockets functioned as expected. The Gemini 2 mission was supported by 6,562 United States Department of Defense personnel, 67 aircraft, and 16 ships.

Gemini 2 had flight instrumentation pallets installed in the crew cabin, similar to those in Gemini 1.

The Gemini 2 reentry module was refurbished and flown again on November 3, 1966, in a test flight for the United States Air ForceManned Orbiting Laboratory program. It was launched on a Titan IIIC rocket on a 33-minute suborbital flight from LC-40 at Cape Kennedy. It is the only Gemini spacecraft to have flown with U.S. Air Force insignia, but there is an unflown Gemini B spacecraft in USAF markings on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.