Date: 11-1-00
EXPLORATIONS #1924 - Project Gemini (Part 2)
By Marilyn ChristianoANNOUNCER:
EXPLORATIONS -- a program in Special English by the Voice of
America.
(THEME)
Today, Shirley Griffith and Tony Riggs complete a report about
America's second manned space program, Gemini. Its purpose was
to bring the United States closer to its goal of landing
astronauts on the moon.
VOICE ONE:
To explore the surface of the moon, astronauts must be able to
survive outside the protection of their spacecraft. So an
astronaut on the flight of Gemini Four, Ed White, took that first
frightening step into the unknown. For more than twenty minutes,
he floated outside his spacecraft in the emptiness of space.
Astronauts on the next flight, Gemini Five, suffered a number of
technical problems. But they were able to survive in space for
eight days.
Then it was time to launch Gemini Six. Its crew would attempt a
move that would be necessary for any landing on the moon. The
astronauts would chase another object orbiting Earth. And they
would move their spacecraft as close as possible to it.
However, the target -- a satellite -- apparently exploded after
it was launched. So America's space agency, NASA, said there was
no reason to send up Gemini Six. NASA decided to move ahead with
the next flight, Gemini seven.
VOICE TWO:
Then NASA considered yet another plan. It would launch Gemini
Seven. And, if everything was ready, it would launch Gemini Six
a few days later. Gemini Six would chase, and get close to,
Gemini Seven instead of a satellite.
Astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell were the crew of Gemini
Seven. They would make the longest, most difficult flight ever.
They would spend fourteen days in their tiny spacecraft.
VOICE ONE:
Gemini Seven lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday,
December Third, Nineteen-Sixty-Five. Workers at the space center
examined the launch area. There appeared to be no major damage.
The workers quickly moved another huge Titan rocket into place.
On top of the rocket sat the Gemini Six spacecraft.
NASA announced that Gemini Six would be launched in the early
morning of Sunday, December Twelfth. The timing would put the
two spacecraft in the correct orbit to meet in space.
Astronauts Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford prepared for their
flight. They had waited once in a spacecraft that never left the
ground. Their first launch had been cancelled because the target
satellite exploded. This time, they hoped, things would be
different.
VOICE TWO:
On that Sunday morning, Schirra and Stafford were again in their
tiny Gemini Six spacecraft atop the Titan rocket. Borman and
Lovell, in Gemini Seven, speeded across the United States. The
countdown at Cape Canaveral reached zero as Gemini Seven passed
overhead.
Frank Borman's disappointed words from space told the story."I
saw ignition. . . and then shutdown." For some reason, the Titan
rocket engines had fired as planned. But then they shut
themselves off one second later.
For several tense minutes, the astronauts of Gemini Six were
sitting on top of a highly explosive mass of rocket fuel.
Schirra waited with his hand on a special device. If he pulled
it, he and Stafford would get away safely. If he did not pull
it, and the rocket exploded, they would be killed.
With nerves of steel, the astronauts waited. The rocket did not
explode.
VOICE ONE:
Once again, Schirra and Stafford climbed out of Gemini Six.
Borman and Lovell continued to circle the Earth.
Soon, the public heard the report. A tiny part at the bottom of
the rocket had fallen out too early. That tiny part sent a
signal to computers that the launch had taken place. The
computers immediately shut off the rocket engines.
Space agency officials decided to try one more time. They set
the launch for three days later. It would be the last chance for
Gemini Six to attempt to meet with Gemini Seven in space. If
this attempt failed, the United States would suffer a serious
delay in its goal to land astronauts on the moon.
Borman and Lovell continued to circle the Earth, day after day,
as workers hurried to meet the new launch date. They were almost
three-hundred kilometers high. They were moving at
twenty-eight-thousand kilometers an hour.
VOICE TWO:
December Fifteenth, Nineteen-Sixty-Five. This was it. What
could be an impossible effort in the history of space flight was
ready to lift off on its final chance for success.
For the third time, Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford put on
their space clothing. They took their places in the Gemini Six
spacecraft. The countdown reached zero just as Frank Borman and
James Lovell, in Gemini Seven, passed overhead.
This time, with a thundering roar, Gemini Six rose into the air.
As it headed into space, a radio announcer said, "This whole
nation pushed that one up."
VOICE ONE:
Now there were four Americans in space. Gemini Six followed
Gemini Seven, but in a lower orbit that moved the two spacecraft
closer together. Flight controllers on the ground held their
breath. Success was near. Yet failure was still very possible.
The spacecraft were almost two-thousand kilometers apart. They
needed to get within six-hundred meters of each other. Only then
would space agency officials consider the project a complete
success.
VOICE TWO:
Time passed quickly as Schirra moved Gemini Six closer and closer
to its target. Gemini Six was now eight kilometers behind, and
twenty-four kilometers below, Gemini Seven. Schirra fired a
rocket exactly long enough to put his spacecraft in the same
orbit. Then radar on each spacecraft noted the other spacecraft.
Happily, Schirra sent a radio message to Gemini Seven. "We'll be
up shortly," he said.
A few minutes later, the astronauts were able to see each others'
spacecraft. Success seemed within reach. Only six-and-one-half
kilometers separated them. The two spacecraft continued to float
together, far out in space.
VOICE ONE:
They moved closer and closer together as they flew across the
Indian Ocean. It was about six hours since the launch of Gemini
Six. For a while, there was no communication from space to
Earth. The spacecraft were too far from any ground station to
send clear messages.
Finally, the voice of Thomas Stafford came through the silence of
space. "We are thirty-six meters apart and sitting."
Thirty-six meters! That was far better than the six-hundred
meters space agency officials would have considered a complete
success.
In fact, the two spacecraft almost touched each other before they
separated. Space agency officials now knew that it was possible
to join two orbiting spacecraft. The crew on Gemini Six had made
the operation seem easy.
VOICE TWO:
As the American astronauts continued to float through space, they
inspected each other and each other's spacecraft. Frank Borman
noted happily that after twelve lonely days in space, he and
James Lovell finally had company for one night!
The next day, Schirra and Stafford completed their flight.
Gemini Six landed in the Atlantic Ocean within twenty kilometers
of the rescue ship. Gemini Seven continued to speed on.
VOICE ONE:
On December Eighteenth, ground controllers asked Borman and
Lovell if they were ready to come home. "Ready! Ready!" the
astronauts answered. Gemini Seven landed as perfectly as Gemini
Six.
Astronauts Borman and Lovell had been in space more than
three-hundred-thirty hours. They had travelled almost
eight-million five-hundred-thousand kilometers.
VOICE TWO:
The flights of Gemini Six and Gemini Seven greatly increased hope
that Americans soon would be able to land on the moon. Schirra
and Stafford proved that spaceships could link up while in orbit.
Borman and Lovell proved that humans could survive in space for
the time needed to get to the moon and back. The distance to the
moon suddenly seemed shorter.
VOICE ONE:
Five more Gemini flights followed. Other spacecraft joined with
other targets in space and landed exactly where planned.
Astronauts worked for longer periods of time in the hostile
environment of space.
The Gemini program had reached all its goals. Now, the United
States was ready for the next historic jump into space. It would
be Project Apollo. Project Apollo would land men on the moon.
((THEME))
ANNOUNCER:
This Special English program was was written by Marilyn Rice
Christiano. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Tony Riggs.
Listen again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/