Object Details
- Manufacturer
- McDonnell Aircraft Corp.
- Summary
- McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis originally built this Gemini capsule for NASA as Gemini Static #3. It was subjected to launch, reentry, abort, landing, and parachute loads as a part of the testing program for the two-man Gemini capsules, which carried ten astronaut crews into orbit in 1965-66. The capsule was then diverted at the McDonnell plant to the Department of Defense Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program, where it became the Gemini B Engineering Compatibility Vehicle (ECV). The MOL was to be a manned reconnaissance satellite, consisting of a cylindrical laboratory section with a large telescopic camera, and a modified Gemini capsule that would carry the astronauts into orbit and return them to the Earth.
- In 1969 the Nixon Administration cancelled the MOL program before it could launch any military astronauts. That same year McDonnell transferred Gemini Static #3 to the Smithsonian for NASA.
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Inventory Number
- A19711522000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- SPACECRAFT-Crewed
- Materials
- titanium, Rene 41, aluminum
- Dimensions
- Overall: 130in. tall x 89 in. diameter (330.2 x 226.06cm)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19711522000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv9372362ba-5eae-4459-bbd9-14ec9e91ef25
