#space training

Going weightless. Astronaut David Scott undertakes gravity training in a C-135 Air Force plane during prep for Gemini 8. The March 1966 mission was the first spaceflight for both Scott & Neil Armstrong. G8 performed the 1st docking of 2 spacecraft in orbit. The mission was planned to last 3 days but was cut short at 10 hours & 41 minutes after the Gemini spacecraft began spinning out of control due to one of its roll thrusters firing continuously. Armstrong was somehow able to stabilize the Gemini craft; the ordeal lasted 30 minutes. The wonderful film ‘Armstrong’ depicts this perilous situation.

Practising & preparing. Astronauts Jim Lovell & Fred Haise run through the steps of lunar surface geological exploration with their @hasselblad cameras attached. Haise was chosen in the 5th Group of astronauts in 1966; Lovell in 1962 in the 2nd Group. The pair were scheduled to walk on the moon during Apollo 13 but a leak & failure in a Service Module oxygen tank led to the abortion of the mission & a mind-blowing rescue and story of survival as the pair, along with fellow astronaut Jack Swigert, looped around the moon & made it back safely to Earth with the assistance of NASA engineers on the ground.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong undergoes training prior to Apollo 11, 1969. Following his retirement from NASA in 1971, Mr. Armstrong went taught at the University of Cincinnati until 1979 in the Dep’t of Aerospace Engineering. During his space career, he also flew on Gemini 8 in 1966 & spent a total of 8 days & 14 hours in space during the two historic missions.

In the field today, on the moon tomorrow. Charlie Duke & John Young undertake geology training for Apollo 16 in Sudbury, Ontario, 07/71. The city in Northern Ontario, nicknamed ‘The Nickel City’, was chosen due to the area’s shatter cone formations. The pair landed in the Descartes Highlands upon the lunar surface in April the following year. They spent 71 hours on the moon & brought back ‘Big Mule’, for research; the largest moon rock collected during Project Apollo.

Edgar Mitchell has the @hasselblad camera in hand during zero gravity training in preparation for Apollo 14. Mitchell served as Lunar Module Pilot on the mission with Commander Alan Shepard & Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa & became the 6th human to walk on the moon. Mitchell graduated in the 5th Group of astronauts in 1966 & served as support crew for Apollo 9 & backup LMP for A10. The Apollo 14 crew was to fly the Apollo 13 mission, but additional time was needed for Shepard to train as he was recovering from Ménière's Disease. Mitchell later served as backup LMP for Apollo 16. A space legend of the early 1970s.