Presented by NASA, ALL SYSTEMS GO is a 26 minute film that was created in March, 1963 about the construction, testing, and documentation of the Gemini III Spacecraft. It also touches on the Project Mercury test launches and failures that resulted in the success of Gemini. The spacecraft shown in this film eventually culminated with the flight of Astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young. It ended up being the ninth manned United Space spaceflight under NASA’s direct control, and was also the final manned flight that was controlled directly at the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida, before eventually Mission Control functions were changed to a new center that was opened in the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.
The film opens up with a description of Gemini III’s spacecraft, and how the rocket was ultimately designed to be fitted with 2 astronauts at the top of the rocket in the crew module (the module at the top of the rocket is Gemini III). Film footage can be seen of both Gus Grissom and John Young preparing to enter the capsules for flight. However the film at the 1:00 minute mark pulls back to the scene at Cape Kennedy, showing people preparing to watch the rocket launch, and then to last-minute footage of training before the official launch can begin.
At 1:50 however the film is predominately about the basic history of past rocket launches. The film starts by discussing the previous Mercury project, and how the failures and success have helped improve rocket technology. As the narrator explains in his silky smooth voice, paradoxically for each and every set back that the space program had suffered, NASA scientists have learned more and more about what went wrong with previous incarnations, and have prepared to study more and improve the technology, resulting in improvements before culminating in the Gemini project. This also shows that at the time NASA needed only the best in their fields to help improve America’s Space domination. The best scientists, engineers, inspectors, and more were needed.
The 4:50 mark however is where the film truly get’s it start in explaining the process that goes into the construction of the Gemini III module, starting with the majority supplier to NASA’s space program when we view in on the “McDonnel Space Center” in St. Louis, which is owned at that point by the McDonnell Spacecraft Incorporate company. What follows after that small tour of the floor of the Space Center is a show that centers around the construction, testing, and inspection of the Gemini III module that’s being developed for NASA as well as inspections to help improve the technology. In fact, at 6:40 mark, the film starts to show each separate component of the module being tested and developed as well as the technology behind it that went into the construction of the module. From there all the way to the 14:00 minute mark you can see all that goes into the module fully, and how for 1963 some of the most advanced, and technology complicated feats of engineering went into the Gemini III.
While the film doesn’t delve into all of the systems that go into the module fully, by 14:40 though it does take a brief glimpse into just one system and shows fully the amount of work goes into making sure that it’s constructed to meet or exceed NASA’s qualifications. All of which includes documentation, leak testing, calibration of the system, more documentation of those calibration, and even more testing before it’s fully prepared.
By 17:50 all of that testing, calibration, and documentation is complete, and is slowly loaded onto an aircraft carrier to be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will currently continue to be tested and prepared for its eventual flight into Space. As soon as it lands though, NASA quickly gets to work in looking for any damages that might have occurred during the flight delivery before running the Gemini III module through its own battery of tests. The last Six minutes of the film (at the 20:00 mark) continue to show the full construction of the Gemini III module atop the rocket, where NASA continues to make sure everything is put together fully well, and functional including tests on the spacesuits that the astronauts will be using on their flight to space. By the end of the film though, we see that all of that work that was put into the Module comes together for a success flight off into space.
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 and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
