Gemini 4
One of 27 caches representing all United States Spaceflight Missions of Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. This was the 2nd of 10 Gemini flights and the 8th of the 27 flights. Click here to see all 27 US Spaceflight caches.
The Gemini 4 spaceflight, officially Gemini IV, was the eigthth United States human spaceflight. On June 3 thru June 7, 1965, astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of the Soviet Vostok 5. The highlight of the mission was the first space walk by an American, during which White floated free outside the spacecraft, tethered to it, for approximately 20 minutes. Both of these accomplishments helped the United States overcome the Soviet Union's early lead in the Space Race.
The flight also included the first attempt to make a space rendezvous as McDivitt attempted to maneuver his craft close to the Titan II upper stage which launched it into orbit, but this was not successful. The flight was the first American flight to perform many scientific experiments in space, including use of a sextant to investigate the use of celestial navigation for lunar flight in the Apollo program.
Gemini 4 Patch and Astronauts McDivitt & White
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 spaceflighst 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:_ |
_James A. McDivitt |
| Pilot:_ |
_Edward H. White II |
| 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:_ |
_June 3, 1965, 15:15:59 UTC |
| Landing Date & Time:_ |
_June 7, 1965, 17:12:11 UTC |
| Duration:_ |
_4 days, 1 hour, 56 minutes, 12 seconds |
WHY op2?
op2 stands for "orbital postition 2". This is a replacement for 1 of the 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. The original US Spaceflight - Gemini 4 has been archived. The coordinate code letter for US Spaceflight - Gemini 4 op2 remains the same so that anyone that found the original one in preparation to find the 51st Anniversary Bonus cache can do so without having to make an extra trip to find this one.
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 4.
Click here to see the Wikipedia description for Project Gemini.
Click here to see the Wikipedia description for the Space Race.