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| 1966 GT-12 Orbit Covers cachet cover with launch day postmark. Signed by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and James A. Lovell. Canceled in Cape Canaveral on launch day November 11, 1966. |
Gemini 12 (GT-12), launched on November 11, 1966, was the final manned flight in Project Gemini. It was crewed by James A. Lovell and Edwin E. Aldrin. Gemini 12 was designed to perform rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle, to conduct three Extravehicular Activity (EVA) operations, to conduct a tethered stationkeeping exercise, to perform docked maneuvers using the Agena propulsion system to change orbit, and demonstrate an automatic reentry.
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| Photo: Buzz Aldrin and James Lovell prepare for practice run on November 5, 1966. |
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| Photo: James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin review their flight plans and mission, November 9, 1966. |
At the completion of the previous Gemini flight, the program still had not demonstrated that an astronaut could work easily and efficiently outside the spacecraft. Prior to the Gemini 12 mission, other astronauts from previous missions of the Gemini Program had attempted EVAs. However, their successes were limited due to a lack of proper restraints and insufficient techniques. In preparation for Gemini 12, new improved restraints were added to the outside of the capsule and a new technique — underwater training — was introduced, which would become a staple of future space-walk simulation.
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| Photo: Launch of Gemini 12 on November 11, 1966. |
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| Gemini 12 official NASA cachet on cover with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancel, signed by James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. |
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| Gemini 12 official NASA cachet on cover with a Kennedy Space Center hand cancel. |
The main purpose of the Gemini 12 mission was to find and test new ways to work outside of a spacecraft safely and effectively. Aldrin's two-hour, 20-minute tethered space-walk, during which he photographed star fields, retrieved a micrometeorite collector and did other chores, at last demonstrated the feasibility of EVA operations. Two more stand-up EVAs also went smoothly, as did the by-now routine rendezvous and docking with an Agena which was done "manually" using the onboard computer and charts when a rendezvous radar failed. The climb to a higher orbit, however, was canceled because of a problem with the Agena booster. Gemini 12 marked a successful conclusion of the Gemini program, achieving the last of its goals by successfully demonstrating that astronauts can effectively work outside of spacecraft. This was instrumental in paving the way for the Apollo program to achieve its goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s.
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| Photo: the Agena target vehicle glided through space at the end of a 100 foot tether attached to the Gemini 12 capsule during the four day orbital journey. |
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| Photo: Buzz Aldrin conducting stand-up Extravehicular Activity (EVA) operations. |
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| Photo: Gemini 12 capsule landed in the Atlantic Ocean with a pinpoint splashdown within four miles of the aircraft carrier Wasp. Almost as soon as the capsule hit the water, navy frogmen, members of the recovery team, leaped from a helicopter to attach flotation gear to the spacecraft and assist the spacemen. |
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| Gemini 12 USS Wasp Captain's cover. |
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| A USS Wasp crew cover mailed from the ship, enclosed a letter from John Cashman. |
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| Beck printed cachet cover B706 with USS Wasp hand cancel is less common than the machine cancel on such cover. The B711 on the top is the correct cover for USS Wasp. |
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| Gemini 12 recovery ship cover with a Gemini 11 Beck rubber stamped cachet. |
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| Photo: Gemini 12 crew at a news conference on November 23, 1966. |
(Reference from
Gemini 12)
