[/caption]
NASA has published a new online gallery of beautifully restored photographs from the historic Project Gemini of the 1960s, the second U.S. manned spaceflight program. The digitally remastered photos have been scanned from the original film, showing highlights of Project Gemini in beautifully enhanced colour and detail.
Project Gemini followed the initial Project Mercury program and was the predecessor for the ambitious Apollo missions to the Moon, with ten crewed flights from 1965-1966. It used a two-man spacecraft and tested new technologies and procedures for the later Apollo missions such as precision atmospheric reentry, Extra Vehicular Activity (spacewalking), fuel cells to generate electricity and water, perfect the rendezvous and docking process between two spacecraft, new techniques for propelling and maneuvering two docked spacecraft and long-term human spaceflight.
It featured the first spacewalk, the first rendezvous between two Gemini spacecraft, the first docking between a manned and unmanned vehicle, the first maneuver to change orbit and the first onboard computer.
The photo gallery is part of the March to the Moon website archive, which also has restored photo galleries from the Mercury missions as well as background information on the missions, Quicktime video clips and links to additional resources.
Some really stunning images here, especially shots of land formations and geographic features – the red deserts of the middle east are particularly beautiful.