| Astronauts | Titan | Missions | Patches | History |
Gemini Astronauts
The New Nine and The Fourteen
Pete Conrad | Gordon Cooper | Theodore Freeman | Richard Gordon | Gus Grissom | Jim Lovell
James McDivitt | Walter Schirra David Scott | Elliott See | Tom Stafford | Ed White | Clifton C. Williams | John Young
Born: January 20,1930
Died:
Flights: Gemini XII
Aldrin graduated third in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor
of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1951. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force,
and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15
aircraft. He earned a Sc.D. degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963,
writing his thesis on Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous. He was backup pilot
for Gemini 9 and the pilot of Gemini 12 in 1966. After serving as backup command module pilot for Apollo 8,
he was the lunar module pilot of Apollo 11, and was the second person to set foot on the Moon. Upon leaving
NASA in 1971, he became commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School. He retired from the Air Force in 1972.
Born: August 5, 1930
Died: August 25, 2012
Flights: Gemini VIII
Armstrong graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. He flew 78 combat missions in the Korean War as a naval aviator, and then became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the forerunner of NASA) at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, where he flew the X-15. He made his first spaceflight as commander of Gemini 8 in March 1966, becoming NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space. During this mission with pilot David Scott, he performed the first docking of two spacecraft, but the mission was aborted after Armstrong used some of his re-entry control fuel to remove a dangerous roll caused by a stuck thruster. During training for his second and last spaceflight as commander of Apollo 11, he ejected from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle moments before a crash. In July 1969, he and his lunar module pilot, Buzz Aldrin, became the first people to land on the Moon, and spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft. He earned a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970. He resigned from NASA in 1971, and taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati until 1979. He served on the Apollo 13 accident investigation, and on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Born: December 30, 1931
Died: February 28, 1966
Flights: -
Bassett was an American electrical engineer and United States Air Force test pilot. He went to Ohio State University for two years and later graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He joined the Air Force as a pilot and graduated from both the Air Force's Experimental Test Pilot School and the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Bassett was married and had two children.
He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963 and was assigned to Gemini 9. He died in an airplane crash during training for his first spaceflight. He is memorialized on the Space Mirror Memorial; The Astronaut Monument; and the Fallen Astronaut memorial plaque, which was placed on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission.
Charlie Bassett and Elliot See died on February 28, 1966, when their T-38 trainer jet, piloted by See, crashed into McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, known as the McDonnell Space Center, 1,000 feet (300 m) from Lambert Field airport in St. Louis, Missouri.[12][14] Building 101 was where the Gemini spacecraft was built, and the two astronauts were going there to train for two weeks in a simulator. They died within 500 feet (150 m) of their spacecraft.
Born: March 14, 1928
Died:
Flights: Gemini VII
Borman received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, in 1950. He joined the USAF and became a fighter pilot. He earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1957. He was an assistant professor of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics at West Point from 1957 to 1960. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School with Class 60-C, and from the ARPS with Class I. He was initially selected for Gemini 5 with Gus Grissom, but Grissom was moved to Gemini 3, with Young as his pilot. Borman commanded the Gemini 7 mission in December 1965. On this mission he and Lovell spent two weeks in space, and performed the first space rendezvous with Gemini 6A. After the Apollo 1 fire he was the astronaut representative on the accident investigation board. In December 1968, he commanded Apollo 8, the first crewed circumlunar mission. He retired from NASA and the USAF in 1970, and joined Eastern Airlines, eventually becoming its Chairman of the Board in December 1976, eventually retiring in 1986.
Born: March 14, 1934
Died: January 16, 2017
Flights: Gemini IX
Cernan studied at Purdue University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1956. He was commissioned in the Navy through the NROTC program. He earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California in 1963. Cernan was backup pilot, and later prime pilot for Gemini 9A in 1966, when he performed the second American EVA. He was the backup pilot for Gemini 12 and the backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 7. In May 1969 he was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" for the Moon landing, the first lunar flight of the lunar module, and highest velocity achieved by a crewed vehicle. He was backup commander of Apollo 14, and then returned to the Moon as commander of Apollo 17, the final crewed lunar landing, and was the last person to walk on the Moon. He is one of only three men to have flown to the Moon twice. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1976.
Born: October 31, 1930
Died: April 28, 2021
Flights: Gemini X
Collins received a Bachelor of Science degree in military science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from which he graduated in 1952, and was commissioned into the USAF. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 60C) and the ARPS (Class III). In 1965, he served as backup pilot for Gemini 7, and then in 1966 was pilot of Gemini 10, the first mission to perform a double rendezvous, and during which he performed a pair of EVAs. He was on the Apollo 3 (later named Apollo 8) crew, but was removed for medical reasons months before launch. In 1969, he flew to the Moon as command module pilot of Apollo 11, the first Moon landing. He left NASA in January 1970, and became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and then director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Born: June 2, 1930
Died: July 8, 1999
Flights: Gemini V, Gemini XI
Conrad graduated from Princeton University in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. He joined the Navy and became a naval aviator. In 1958, he graduated from the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Patuxent, Maryland as part of Class 20. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with his command pilot Gordon Cooper on his first spaceflight, the Gemini 5 mission in August 1965. The following year he commanded the Gemini 11 mission, on which he and pilot Dick Gordon set an altitude record of 850 miles (1,370 km). He became the third person to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 12 in 1969 after landing the lunar module Intrepid in the Ocean of Storms. He and pilot Alan Bean made two moonwalks, recovering components from the Surveyor 3 probe, which had landed there two years before. In 1973 he commanded Skylab 2, the first crewed Skylab mission, and spent 28 more days in space. On this mission, he and his crewmates repaired significant launch damage to the Skylab space station.
Born: March 6, 1927
Died: October 4, 2004
Flights: Gemini V
Cooper joined the USAF in 1949, and flew F-84 Thunderjets and F-86 Sabres in Germany for four years. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Flight Test School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, with class 56D in 1956. Cooper flew Mercury-Atlas 9, the final Mercury mission. He was the first American to fly in space for more than a day, and the last to fly in space alone. He flew in space again on Gemini 5 in August 1965. His lax attitude toward training and his personal safety put him at odds with Slayton. After Shepard was given his potential Apollo command, Cooper retired from NASA and the Air Force with the rank of Colonel in July 1970.
Born: February 18, 1930
Died: October 31, 1964
Flights: -
Freeman attended the University of Delaware at Newark for one year, then entered the United States Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and chose to join the USAF. In 1960, he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. He graduated from both the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School (Class 62-A) and the ARPS (Class IV). He was killed in a T-38 crash in 1964 before being selected for any space flight assignment.
Born: October 5, 1929
Died: November 6, 2017
Flights: Gemini XI
Gordon received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1951, and joined the Navy. He graduated from the Navy's All-Weather Flight School and, in 1961, from the Test Pilot School. He also studied at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Gordon was the backup pilot for Gemini 8, and then, in September 1966, the pilot of Gemini 11. He was the backup command module pilot for Apollo 9 and then in November 1969 flew to the Moon as command module pilot of Apollo 12, the second crewed lunar landing. He was backup commander for Apollo 15, and was slated to command Apollo 18, but the mission was canceled due to budget cuts. He retired from NASA and the USN in January 1972 and accepted the position of Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Football League's New Orleans Saints.
Born: October 5, 1929
Died: November 6, 2017
Flights: Gemini III
Grissom joined the USAF in 1950, and flew 100 combat missions in the Korean War as an F-86 Sabre pilot. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Flight Test School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, with class 56D (the same class as Gordon Cooper) in 1956. Grissom flew in space on Mercury-Redstone 4, the second suborbital Mercury flight, and then as Command Pilot of Gemini 3, the first crewed Gemini mission in 1965, becoming the first person to fly in space twice. He was designated as commander of Apollo 1 but was killed in a fire during a launch pad rehearsal test. At the time of his death, he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the USAF.
Born: March 25, 1928
Died:
Flights: Gemini VII, Gemini XII
Lovell graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland with the Class of 1952, and became a naval aviator. In 1958, he graduated from the United States Naval Test Pilot School with Class 20. He flew as the pilot of the Gemini 7 mission in December 1965 during which he and Borman spent two weeks in space, and conducted the first rendezvous in space, with Gemini 6A. In November 1966 he commanded the Gemini 12 mission with Buzz Aldrin as his pilot. He was the command module pilot on the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968, during which he, Borman and Bill Anders conducted the first crewed circumlunar mission. In April 1970 he became the first person fly in space four times, and the first to travel to the Moon twice, on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission
Born: June 19, 1929
Died: October 13, 2022
Flights: Gemini IV
McDivitt joined the USAF in 1951, and flew 145 combat missions in the Korean War. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan, graduating first in class in 1959. That year he also graduated from the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School with Class 59-C, and he graduated from the ARPS with Class I in 1960. He commanded the Gemini 4 mission during which White performed the first U.S. spacewalk. He was the first astronaut to command his first space mission. In March 1969, he commanded the Apollo 9 flight, which was the first crewed flight test of the Lunar Module and the complete set of Apollo flight hardware. He later became Manager of Lunar Landing Operations and was the Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager from 1969 to 1972. In February 1972 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, the first astronaut to reach that rank. He retired from NASA and the USAF later that year to pursue a career in the aviation industry, and became a senior vice president at Rockwell International
Born: March 12, 1923
Died: May 3, 2007
Flights: Gemini VI
Schirra graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1945. After service afloat during World War II, he qualified as a pilot in 1948, and saw service on exchange with the USAF as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, flying 90 combat missions, and downing two MiGs. He qualified as a test pilot with class 20 at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1958. Schirra flew in space on Mercury-Atlas 8, the third orbital Mercury flight; on Gemini 6A in 1965; and Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission. Schirra was the first person to be launched into space three times, and the only one to fly Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. He resigned from NASA and retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of Captain in 1969, and joined CBS News as Walter Cronkite's co-anchor for the broadcasts of the Apollo Moon landing missions.
Born: June 6, 1932
Died:
Flights: Gemini VIII
Scott received a Bachelor of Science degree in military science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated fifth in the class of 1954, and was commissioned in the USAF. He received both a Master of Science degree in aeronautics/astronautics and the degree of Engineer in aeronautics/astronautics from MIT in 1962. He graduated from both the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School (Class 62-A) and the ARPS (Class IV). Scott flew in space as pilot of Gemini 8 in March 1966, a mission that featured the first docking in space (with an Agena target vehicle) and the first mission abort from Earth orbit. In March 1969 he was command module pilot of Apollo 9, the first crewed flight with a lunar module. He was backup commander of Apollo 12, and then, in July 1971, commander of Apollo 15, the fourth crewed lunar landing, and the first to use the Lunar Rover. Scott became the seventh person to walk on the Moon. He served as backup commander of Apollo 17, but was removed due to the Apollo 15 postal covers incident. He retired from the Air Force in March 1975. He was deputy director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, and then director until 1977.
Born: July 23, 1927
Died: February 28, 1966
Flights: -
Eliott See was an American engineer, naval aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut. See received an appointment to the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1945. He graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine engineering and a United States Naval Reserve commission, and joined the Aircraft Gas Turbine Division of General Electric as an engineer. He was called to active duty as a naval aviator during the Korean War, and flew Grumman F9F Panther fighters with Fighter Squadron 144 (VF-144) from the aircraft carrier USS Randolph in the Mediterranean, and USS Boxer in the Western Pacific.
Selected in NASA's second group of astronauts in 1962, See was the prime command pilot for what would have been his first space flight, Gemini 9. He was killed along with Charles Bassett, his Gemini 9 crewmate, in a NASA jet crash at the St. Louis McDonnell Aircraft plant, where they were to undergo two weeks of space rendezvous simulator training.
Bassett and Elliot See died on February 28, 1966, when their T-38 trainer jet, piloted by See, crashed into McDonnell Aircraft Building 101, known as the McDonnell Space Center, 1,000 feet (300 m) from Lambert Field airport in St. Louis, Missouri.[12][14] Building 101 was where the Gemini spacecraft was built, and the two astronauts were going there to train for two weeks in a simulator. They died within 500 feet (150 m) of their spacecraft.
Born: September 17, 1930
Died:
Flights: Gemini VI, Gemini IX
Stafford graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland with the Class of 1952, and joined the USAF. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School with Class 58-C. He made his first spaceflight in December 1965 as the pilot of Gemini 6A, which made the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7. In June of the following year he commanded Gemini 9A. In 1969, Stafford was the Commander of Apollo 10, the second crewed mission to orbit the Moon and the first to fly a Lunar Module in lunar orbit, descending to an altitude of 9 miles (14 km) above its surface. On the return to Earth, the Apollo 10 spacecraft achieved a speed of 24,791 miles per hour (39,897 km/h), setting the record for the fastest speed achieved by human beings. In 1975, Stafford was the commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission. He was a brigadier general at the time of the mission, becoming the first general officer to fly in space, as well as the first member of his Naval Academy class to pin on the first, second, and third stars of a general officer.
Born: November 14, 1930
Died: January 27, 1967
Flights: Gemini IV
White received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating with the Class of 1952. He joined the USAF and became a fighter pilot. He earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1959. He graduated from the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School with Class 59-C. In June 1965, he flew on Gemini 4 as its pilot, and conducted the first American spacewalk. He was selected as the Command Module pilot of Apollo 1, the inaugural flight of the Apollo spacecraft, but was killed in the fire on the launch pad test in January 1967, a month before launch.
Born: September 26, 1932
Died: October 5, 1967
Flights: -
Clifton Williams was an American naval aviator, test pilot, mechanical engineer, major in the United States Marine Corps, and NASA astronaut, who was killed in a plane crash; he never went into space. The crash was caused by a mechanical failure in a NASA T-38 jet trainer, which he was piloting to visit his parents in Mobile, Alabama. The failure caused the flight controls to stop responding, and although he activated the ejection seat, it did not save him. He was the fourth astronaut from NASA's Astronaut Group 3 to have died, the first two (Charles Bassett and Theodore Freeman) having been killed in separate T-38 flights, and the third (Roger B. Chaffee) in the Apollo 1 fire earlier that year. The aircraft crashed in Florida near Tallahassee within an hour of departing Patrick AFB.
Born: September 24, 1930
Died: January 5, 2018
Flights: Gemini III, Gemini X
Young graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1952. He joined the Navy, and set world time-to-climb records for 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and 25,000 metres (82,000 ft). His first space mission was as pilot of Gemini 3, the first crewed Gemini mission, in March 1965. He went on to command Gemini 10 in July 1966. In May 1969, he was Command Module pilot of Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" for the Apollo 11 Moon landing. On the way back to Earth, the Apollo 10 crew reached a speed of 24,791 miles per hour (39,897 km/h), the highest speed attained by a crewed vehicle. He returned to the Moon as commander of Apollo 16 in April 1972, making the fifth crewed lunar landing. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon, and the second to fly to it twice. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1974 to 1987. In April 1981, he commanded the STS-1 mission, the maiden flight of Columbia. When he commanded STS-9, the first Spacelab mission, in November 1983, he became the first person to travel into space six times.
