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| 1965 GT-5 Orbit Covers cachet cover with launch day postmark. Gemini 5 doubled the U.S space-flight record of the Gemini 4 mission to eight days, the length of time it would take to fly to the Moon, land and return. Signed by Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad. Canceled in Cape Canaveral on launch day August 21, 1965. |
Gemini 5 (GT-5), launched on August 21, 1965, was the third Gemini manned flight crewed by Gordon Cooper and Charles "Pete" Conrad. It doubled the U.S space-flight record of the Gemini 4 mission to eight days, the length of time it would take to fly to the Moon, land and return. This was possible due to new fuel cells that generated enough electricity to power longer missions, a pivotal innovation for future Apollo flights, instead of the chemical batteries used on previous crewed spacecraft. Gemini 5 was also the first time an American crewed space mission held the world record for duration, set on August 26, 1965, by breaking the Soviet Union's previous record set by Vostok 5 in 1963. This record might have been one day longer, but Gemini 5 was cut short due to the approach of Hurricane Betsy.
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| Photo: Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad in space suits during training for the Gemini 5 flight. |
Cooper and Conrad were to have made a practice space rendezvous with a "pod" deployed from the spacecraft, but problems with the electrical supply forced a switch to a simpler "phantom rendezvous," whereby the Gemini craft maneuvered to a predetermined position in space.
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| Photo: Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper explaining the concept of the Radar Evaluation Pod (REP). |
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| Gemini 5 launch cover, postmarked at Cape Canaveral on August 21, 1965. |
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| Photo: Technicians preparing the Gemini 5 crew and their spacecraft for the launch on August 21, 1965. |
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| Photo: US President Johnson watching the launch of the Gemini 5 space flight on August 21, 1965. |
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| Gemini 5 official NASA cachet on covers with Kennedy Space Center machine and hand cancel. This is the first NASA cachet used for manned flight. |
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| Photo: Gemini 5 crew took this photo of the eastern coast of Florida and the Bahama Islands. Cape Kennedy is located on the tip of the bulge in the coastline. |
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| Photo: "FUEL CELL on Gemini 5 spacecraft developed electric supply difficulty, causing power loss and threatening to curtail flight. United Press International Telephoto. August 22, 1965." |
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| Photo: John Stonesifer (NASA Capt.), R. F. Menge (chief of staff of Carrier Division 20) and Capt R. Smith plotting the recovery area for the end of the 8-days flight of Gemini 5. |
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| Photo: John Llewellyn, retro-fire control officer, points to a proposed recovery area for the Gemini 5 crew to splashdown on August 29, 1965. |
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| Photo: Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on August 29, 1965, awaiting recovery. Meanwhile the frogmen secure the Gemini capsule with a flotation collar. |
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| Photo: Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad were hoisted aboard the recovery helicopter. |
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| Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain recovery ship cover with Beck rubber stamped cachet and machine cancel. Signed by Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad. |
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| Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain recovery ship cover with Beck rubber stamped cachet and less common hand cancel. Signed by the ship's commanding officer, Captain James Longino, Jr. |
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| Photo: Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper inspecting the recovered Gemini 5 capsule on the USS Lake Champlain, August 29, 1965. |
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| A rare Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain Beck CREW Cover, only 25 covers without the "B" number printed exist. |
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| Photo: Gordon Cooper aboard USS Lake Champlain, enjoying meal with Bruce Adams, Minneapolis, August 29, 1965. |
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| Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain recovery ship cover (letter enclosed) addressed to Dwight Owen Coons, the Deputy Medical Director at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. |
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| Photo: Cake cutting ceremony for the Gemini 5 crew onboard USS Lake Champlain, August 29, 1965. |
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| Photo: Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper admiring a cartoon presented to Conrad at the news conference. The cartoon depicts Conrad's observation of his four sons playing on the roof of their house while he and Cooper orbiting the Earth in Gemini 5. |
(Reference from
Gemini 5)
