Gemini 8
One of 27 caches representing all United States Spaceflight Missions of Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. This was the 6th of 10 Gemini flights and the 12th of the 27 flights. Click here to see all 27 US Spaceflight caches.
The Gemini 8 spaceflight, officially Gemini VIII, was the sixth crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program, launched March 16, 1966. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required an immediate abort of the mission. The crew was returned to Earth safely.
Command pilot Neil Armstrong's flight marked the second time a U.S. civilian flew into space (Joe Walker became the first on X-15 Flight 90). Armstrong had resigned his commission in the United States Naval Reserve in 1960. The Soviet Union had launched the first civilian, Valentina Tereshkova (also the first woman), aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.
Gemini 8 Patch and Scott & Armstrong
WHY HERE?
The center point of all the US Spaceflight caches is located in the middle of the intersection where John Glenn Drive changes into Galaxy Way in Concord, CA.
Or as we geocachers would specify it: N 37° 58.700 W 122° 03.259
The distance ranges from this point to the various caches representing the spaceflights are:
- about ¼ mile - Mercury sub-orbital missions
- about 2 miles - Mercury orbital missions
- about 5 miles - Gemini missions
- about 5 miles - Apollo Earth orbital missions
- about 25 miles - Apollo moon missions
FLIGHT SUMMARY:
| Command Pilot:_ |
_Neil A. Armstrong |
| Pilot:_ |
_David R. Scott |
| Launch Vehicle:_ |
_Titan II GLV |
| Height:_ |
_109 feet |
| Stages:_ |
_2 |
| Stage 1 Diameter:_ |
_10.0 feet |
| Stage 1 Thrust:_ |
_430,000 lbf |
| Stage 2 Diameter:_ |
_10.0 feet |
| Stage 2 Thrust:_ |
_100,000 lbf |
| Launch Date & Time:_ |
_March 16, 1966, 16:41:02 UTC |
| Landing Date & Time:_ |
_March 17, 1966, 03:22:28 UTC |
| Duration:_ |
_10 hours, 41 minutes, 26 seconds |
FTF Prize:
This is 1 of 27 caches in KCSearcher's US Spaceflight series that were given away as FTF prizes at his “Man on the Moon, July 20, 1969 - 50 years later” event. For those attendees that received this as a prize, they had an 88 hour head start on those that didn’t attend the event. The prize winners were instructed to sign the log in the “Pre-Publication FTFer(s)” space.
However, for the FTF Hounds that were not able to attend, they too had the opportunity to be FTF on this cache after publication that was targeted for 7/24/2019 @ or around 9:50 AM Pacific Time (splashdown of Apollo 11 + 50 years). All they had to do is find the cache and be first to sign in the “Post-Publication FTFer(s)” space on the log.
BONUS:
Don’t forget to record and save the Code Letter and its associated Number that is on the log sheet and inside the container lid. It will be needed to find a bonus cache on the 51st anniversary of the Moon Landing, July 20, 2020.
Please DO NOT post or include an image of the Code Letter and Number in any of your online logs for this cache
TO LEARN MORE:
Click here to see the Wikipedia description for Gemini 8.
Click here to see the Wikipedia description for Project Gemini.
Click here to see the Wikipedia description for the Space Race.