These are great. Lots of interesting bits in here. One thing I saw, on p. 18 of the first document ("Gemini B MOL Schematics"), the aft EVA airlock has bulges labeled "Escape Capsule" - perhaps I'm showing my MOL-ignorance, but does anyone know what that was all about?
Quote from: Herb Schaltegger on 03/09/2009 04:26 pmThese are great. Lots of interesting bits in here. One thing I saw, on p. 18 of the first document ("Gemini B MOL Schematics"), the aft EVA airlock has bulges labeled "Escape Capsule" - perhaps I'm showing my MOL-ignorance, but does anyone know what that was all about?I was wondering that too. My guess is that its a small capsule for return of film to Earth during the mission.
I've never seen a formal report attached to this image. I think it was mostly notional and not the result of any detailed study of the kinds of military operations a Gemini could perform. There's a lot of reasons why you would not want to pack all of this stuff onto a single spacecraft.
What are "Negation Missiles"?
But if, for sake of argument, circumulnar Gemini had been kept as a possibility, by the time Apollo was out of money, a lesser but still existant manned deep space program could have been kept, and we wouldn't have been out of the space flight business for years.