NASA's Gemini 2: The Re-entry Mission - Project Gemini - Charlie Dean Archives / Archival Footage

Video from the channel Charlie Dean Archives about Project Gemini, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 7:28. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.

Film about GT-2, the second test flight of the Gemini program: an uncrewed suborbital flight to certify the spacecraft and the launch vehicle before the crewed flight. It covers the countdown, liftoff and ascent, but its central part is the reentry filmed by an onboard camera, mounted at the commander's station and played back at four times actual speed. It shows the spacecraft's turn, the jettisoning of the adapter and the firing of the retrorockets. Afterward, the reentry control system thrusters produce a roll of 15 degrees per second, the six-foot pilot parachute and the main parachute deploy, and the capsule descends into the sea.

The launch took place on January 19, 1965 from Pad 19 at Cape Kennedy (Florida), around 9:04 a.m. Eastern time. The spacecraft splashed down in the planned area, about 20 miles from the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. Navy swimmers attached a flotation collar, and at 10:45, one hour and 41 minutes after liftoff, it was hoisted aboard. Helicopters also recovered the rendezvous and recovery section, half a mile from the capsule.

The spacecraft was built by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis. The launch vehicle was a modified Titan II, developed by the Air Force and the Martin Company. The flight reached an altitude of 98.9 statute miles (about 159 km) and 16,708.9 miles per hour (about 26,900 km/h), and covered 2,127 miles (about 3,420 km) in a little over 19 minutes. According to the film, it is the first footage of a reentry seen from the window. At the close, the program director, Charles W. Mathews, states that the preliminary data do not anticipate obstacles for the first crewed mission.