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Product Name: Gemini 9 Target B
Product Description
The Gemini 9 Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) was launched from Cape Canaveral using an Atlas-Agena D rocket at 10:00:02 a.m. EST (15:00:02.363 UT) on 1 June 1966. The spacecraft was successfully injected into a near-circular 304 km orbit, but telemetry signals indicated that the launch shroud, which covered the docking adaptor, had separated but had not been jettisoned. This was confirmed when Gemini 9 was launched two days later and the astronauts observed the launch shroud still on the ATDA blocking the docking port, looking, according to Tom Stafford, like an "angry alligator". Rendezvous within 8 meters of the ATDA was achieved by Gemini 9 on the third revolution. The shroud had not jettisoned because the lanyards had been installed improperly with the loose ends taped down, due to "insufficiently detailed" instructions. Plans to cut the fiber glass shroud loose were considered but discarded as too dangerous to the astronauts. The flight plan was then revised and Gemini 9 completed two different equiperiod rendezvous maneuvers with the ATDA. The ATDA was left in a 290 x 300 km orbit.
The Augmented Target Docking Adapter had been prepared as a backup target in case of an Agena Target Vehicle failure. The ATDA was a short cylinder consisting of a target docking adapter cone mounted on front and containing a communications system, a guidance and control system, and a reaction control system. It also had running lights, but unlike the Gemini Agena Target Vehicles, the ATDA was not stabilized.
Company Details
Gemini 9A was the seventh crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft of the Gemini series. It carried astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan. Primary mission objectives were to demonstrate (1) rendezvous techniques and docking with a target vehicle to... more
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