This 1960’s color film depicts NASA press conferences and training activity in preparation for the Gemini 9A crewed spaceflight of 1966. It depicts testing of the Agena Target Vehicle and the United States Air Force’s Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, both of which were unable to be successfully utilized during the mission that followed (TRT 12:07).

Astronaut Ed White conducts a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965 (0:08). Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 meet in orbit (0:27). Gemini 8 hovers above earth (0:38). Extra-vehicular activity, rendez-vous, and docking in review (0:49). A rocket poised for takeoff at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) Launch Complex 19 in Florida as part of Gemini 9 (0:57). NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. Flight controllers sit behind display CRT screens and consoles in the control room (1:01). Astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan in space helmets (1:08). NASA’s Gemini Program Manager Charles Matthews speaks from behind a microphone at a press conference. A model Gemini capsule is on display. The back wall reads: “NASA Manned Spacecraft Center” (1:14). Charles Matthews addresses the camera directly in closeup when speaking about failures on Gemini 8, optimism for the next mission (3:01). Chief Flight Director Gene Kranz speaks into a radio console, then into a telephone. He hangs up and faces the camera (3:39). Gene in closeup, wearing a microphone headset (4:20). Gene in profile, with a map in the background (4:43). Flight Director Glynn Lunney from behind, seated in the mission control center (5:22). Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth, standing, smokes a cigarette (5:32). The Gemini 9 pre-flight press conference. Four men in suits sit at the NASA press conference table alongside a statue of a man in a spacesuit (5:47). Gene Cernan describes the EVA plan (6:30). Egress training with pilots in an underwater low-gravity simulation test module. Air bubbles escape. Tom Stafford swims out of the training capsule towards the pool surface (8:00). A docking training module against a black background. It tilts down to show the docking target that joins the Gemini spacecraft. Again from the view of the Agena Target Vehicle (8:26). Stafford and Cernan, in flight suits, examine a spacecraft during a dry run with engineers standing by. They test closing a hatch (8:54). A massive circular door closes with engineers in the foreground (9:23). A CRT video monitor shows Tom Stafford (9:29). Stafford tests the controls of a USAF astronaut propulsion unit (AMU) pack in a helmet, white shirt, and black tie (9:38). His hand grips a black control knob on the maneuvering unit (10:04). The astronauts climb out of a landing test capsule floating in water during egress training. Cernan steadies the craft for Stafford. They jump into the water (10:33). Ending the press conference (11:26). Cernan and Stafford review documents against a world map at Cape Kennedy (11:31). Gemini 9 mission control. Flight controllers at the ready (11:36). Gemini 9A stands ready to launch from LC-19 (11:43). Closeup. “Another step on our road to the moon.” Fade out (11:51).

The Agena Target Vehicle (ATV) discussed in the film launched on May 17, 1966 via an Atlas launch vehicle, which subsequently malfunctioned. A contingency plan using the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) followed, launching on June 1. This relaunch re-classified Gemini 9 as Gemini 9A.

The AMU, depicted in this film during training exercises, had its own propulsion, stabilization system, and oxygen, and used hydrogen peroxide for propellant. However, issues with Cernan’s spacesuit led to a decision by NASA not to test the AMU.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com