Agena Target Vehicle

The Agena Target Vehicle (ATV) was an unmanned spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques and to perform large orbital changes, in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions.

Each ATV consisted of an Agena-D derivative upper rocket stage built by Lockheed and a docking adapter built by McDonnell. The Agena was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 on top of an Atlas booster built by the Convair division of General Dynamics. The Agena first burn would occur shortly after shroud jettison and separation from the Atlas over the Atlantic Ocean. Over Ascension Island, a second burn would place the Agena into a low circular orbit.

The McDonnell Gemini spacecraft would then be launched from Launch Complex 19, as soon as 90 minutes later. Both countdowns would proceed in parallel and required close synchronization. The Gemini would rendezvous and dock with the Agena as soon as Gemini's first orbit toward the end of the program.

The Gemini astronauts would then fly the combined spacecraft in a stabilized mode and perform a number of experiments:

After the Gemini capsule separated for the last time, the Agena remained in orbit for a short time and was used to verify the command system.

The first Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle (GATV) was launched on October 25, 1965 while the Gemini 6 astronauts were waiting on the pad. While the Atlas performed normally, the Agena's engine exploded during orbital injection. Since the rendezvous and docking was the primary objective, the Gemini 6 mission was scrubbed, and replaced with the alternate mission Gemini 6A, which rendezvoused (but could not dock) with Gemini 7 in December.

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