#gt-3

"According to Young, his contraband corned-beef sandwich was thanks to astronaut Wally Schirra, who had it prepared at a restaurant in Cocoa Beach before Gemini 3 launched. Schirra was well known as a practical joker. Young said Grissom was 'bored' with the official menus that they had practiced with in training, and packing a sandwich for the trip 'seemed like a fun idea at the time.'

It was not, as it turned out, quite so fun. When the Gemini astronauts got hungry, Young pulled out the smuggled sandwich. In the transcripts of the Gemini 3 mission, Young tells Grissom, 'Let's see how it tastes. Smells, doesn't it?' When Grissom took a bite, 'crumbs of rye bread started floating all around the cabin,' he told Life.

Grissom put the sandwich in his pocket for the duration of the flight, Young remarking 'It was a thought anyway… Not a very good one.'

It’s possible for tiny crumbs like that to pose a big threat during spaceflight—they can fly off and get wedged in any of the many pieces of equipment that keep a spacecraft running."

-pasaage from Smithsonian's article "How an Astronaut Smuggled a Sandwich Into Space" By Hillary Brady: link

Date: March 23, 1965

The launch schedule that accompanied the final version of the Mercury Mark II (late renamed Gemini) Project Development Plan.

STG, "Project Development Plan for Rendezvous Development Utilizing the Mark II Two Man Spacecraft," Oct. 27, 1961, Fig. 5.5.

Gemini erector is lowered during final countdown exercises for Gemini-Titan 3 on LC-19 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Date: March 19, 1965

"View of a cloudy part of Earth as seen from the Gemini-3 spacecraft while in orbit."

Date: March 23, 1965

Gemini III final inspection

"Technicians from the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which was responsible for producing the Gemini capsule, make final inspections to the Gemini III spacecraft. The photo is taken in the white room, a sterile environment where the spacecraft was prepared for launch, atop the Titan launch vehicle at Pad 19 at the Kennedy Space Center. Gus Grissom and John Young would ride the spacecraft into orbit for the first Gemini mission on a five-hour trip into space on March 23, 1965."

Date: March 23, 1965

Gemini 3 backup crew entry to a Gemini Spacecraft in McDonnell Aircraft Test Chamber at St. Louis, Missouri.

Date: June 18, 1964

Posted on Flickr by dwt_author.

"Astronaut John W. Young took this picture during the second orbit of the Gemini-Titan 3 three-orbit mission as the spacecraft 'Molly Brown' passed over Northern Mexico at an altitude of 90 miles. The light-brown circular area at the lower right is the Sonoran Desert. The lower portion of the picture is Mexico, and the upper part is California. Young used a hand-held modified 70mm Hasselblad camera with color film."

Date: March 23, 1965