Here Comes Gemini

The U.S. has not sent a man into space since May 1963--when Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper stayed in orbit for 34 hr. 20 min. Cooper's flight signaled the end of the Mercury program and the start of the Gemini series of earth orbits in a two-man capsule. Gemini fell two years behind schedule because of technical problems and congressional heel-dragging on appropriations. This year the spacemen hope to make up for lost time: a three-orbit trip is scheduled for April, a four-day attempt for this summer, and if all goes well, there will be a week-long spin in space this fall.

Stepping Out. That seven-day trip, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced last week, will be manned by "Gordo" Cooper, 37, and Astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., 34, a Navy pilot who learned his aeronautical engineering at Princeton. The Cooper-Conrad flight will be the most critical one of the Gemini program, since a round trip to the moon, as envisioned in the Project Apollo series, will also last about seven days, and NASA officials want to be able to study the effects of such a long period of weightlessness on humans. Plans also call for the men to release a "pod" with a flashing light, and to practice maneuvering their craft around the pod to get the hang of making a rendezvous with another space vehicle. While in orbit, the astronauts are expected to open a hatch and lean out into space; one of them may actually step out altogether.

The space capsule, of course, has been redesigned. Its outside dimensions are only slightly larger than Mercury's, but room has been made inside for a second man. New equipment includes instruments for coupling with another craft in space, radar control and ejection seats.

New Cast. The cast of characters is different too. Gone from the space program is Colonel Shorty Powers, the public affairs officer whose calm voice reported the Mercury events to millions of TV watchers and radio listeners; he has been replaced by a civilian, ex-Newspaperman (Washington Evening Star) Paul Haney. Mercury Director Walter Williams has resigned to become vice president of an aerospace consultant firm; his job has yet to be filled.

All told, there are now 28 spacemen. Of the original seven Mercury astronauts, only two besides Cooper remain as active participants: Virgil Grissom will command the first of the Gemini flights, and Walter Schirra Jr. will lead the stand-by crew. Donald ("Deke") Slayton, who resigned his Air Force commission in 1963 after doctors discovered a heart murmur, is now assistant director of the Manned Spacecraft Center at Houston, in charge of crew operations. Marine Lieut. Colonel John Glenn made an abortive try at politics, later retired from the Marine Corps, is now a director of a soft-drink company. Alan Shepherd was grounded 1 1/2 years ago as a result of an infection of the inner ear, now serves as a coordinator of astronaut activities. And Scott Carpenter has been detached for service with the Navy's Project Sealab, an experiment in living under water.

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