ABSTRACT
Test flights of the Redstone and Atlas rockets carrying unmanned Mercury capsules were taking place with varying degrees of success. Alan Shepard was selected as the first of the Mercury Seven astronauts to ride the Redstone into space. Mercury had shown that a capsule could be steered in its path, but Gemini was designed to be able to change orbits and dock with other craft. Gemini was a much larger two-man capsule that was designed to be highly manoeuvrable in space. The first manned Gemini flight took place on 23 March 1965 carrying Gus Grissom, who became the first man to fly in space twice, and John Young. Over the next year and a half a further nine Gemini flights pushed NASA to the front of the space race. NASA and the astronauts had to become experts in rendezvous and docking—quickly. This was the philosophy behind the Gemini programme.
