Gemini 2
The atmospheric re-entry of Gemini 2 viewed through a pilot's window
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| Mission type | Test flight |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Mission duration | 18 minutes, 16 seconds |
| Range | 3,422.4 kilometers (1,847.9 nmi) |
| Apogee | 171.1 kilometers (92.4 nmi) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Gemini SC2 |
| Manufacturer | McDonnell |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | January 19, 1965, 14:03:59.861 UTC |
| Rocket | Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12557 |
| Launch site | Cape Kennedy LC-19 |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | USS Lake Champlain |
| Landing date | January 19, 1965, 14:22:14 UTC |
| Landing site | 16°36′N 49°46′W / 16.600°N 49.767°W |
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Gemini 2 was the second spaceflight of the American human spaceflight program Project Gemini. Gemini 2, like Gemini 1, was an unmanned mission intended as a test flight of the Gemini spacecraft. Unlike Gemini 1, which was placed into orbit, Gemini 2 made a suborbital flight, primarily intended to test the spacecraft's heat shield. It was launched on a Titan II GLV rocket. The spacecraft used for the Gemini 2 mission was later refurbished, and was subsequently launched on another suborbital flight, along with OPS 0855, as a test for the US Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory. Gemini 2 was the first craft to make more than one spaceflight since the X-15, and the only one until Space Shuttle Columbia flew its second mission in 1981.
The Titan II/Gemini launch vehicle was dismantled to protect it from two hurricanes in August and September 1964. The second stage of the vehicle was taken down and stored in a hangar on August 26, 1964 in preparation for Hurricane Cleo, and the entire launch vehicle was subsequently dismantled and removed from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's Launch Complex 19 in early September before Hurricane Dora passed over Cape Kennedy on September 9. The Gemini launch vehicle was erected for the final time on 12 September 1964.
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