Space: Milestone for Gemini

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The Gemini program, which was designed to test the ability of astronauts to control a rendezvous of spaceships in orbit, had a difficult enough time even getting off the ground. But last week it passed an important milestone in the air. A Titan II rocket took off from Cape Kennedy and carried a 6,900-lb. Gemini capsule 99 miles high. No attempt was made to orbit; the capsule arched like a missile and plunged down at 16.600 m.p.h. toward a spot in the Atlantic 2,129 miles southeast of the Cape.

No humans were on board. In place of the two astronauts who will eventually ride in Gemini capsules were crew simulators: black boxes weighing 160 Ibs. each, stuffed with batteries, timing devices, tape recorders and electronic apparatus capable of keeping records, testing communications and giving orders. With imperturbable efficiency, they turned the capsule so that its blunt heat shield was forward. At the proper moment, they separated an adapter section and fired four retrorockets. As the capsule dived down through the atmosphere, the shield streamed fire at 2,000° F. At 10,600 ft., a small stabilizing parachute opened, then the 84-ft. main chute lowered the capsule into the ocean at 30 ft. per second. It was spotted quickly by helicopters from the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain, which picked it up with the help of frogmen.

The test was apparently a complete success. It proved that the new capsule can survive the critical strains of launching and reentry. The only trouble came five minutes and 15 seconds after launch, when an electrical overload opened a circuit breaker and cut off all power in the Flight Control Center for 47 seconds. This unglamorous mishap, equivalent to blowing a household fuse, stopped communication with the capsule, and might have been serious if astronauts had been aboard.

Project Gemini is now about 18 months behind schedule. Next step, if no more trouble develops, will be a two-man, three-orbit flight some time in April.