[00:00.00](MUSIC) [00:13.75]EXPLORATIONS [00:15.30]a program in Special English [00:18.14]by the Voice of America. [00:20.15](MUSIC) [00:27.72]Today,Shirley Griffith and Tony Riggs [00:31.14]complete a report about America's [00:34.12]second manned space program,Gemini. [00:38.57]Its purpose was to bring the United States [00:43.02]closer to its goal [00:44.71]of landing astronauts on the moon. [00:47.93]To explore the surface of the moon, [00:52.15]astronauts must be able to survive [00:55.70]outside the protection of their spacecraft. [00:59.26]So an astronaut on the flight of Gemini Four, [01:03.71]Ed White,took that first frightening step [01:08.88]into the unknown. [01:10.43]For more than twenty minutes, [01:14.01]he floated outside his spacecraft [01:17.51]in the emptiness of space. [01:20.31]Astronauts on the next flight, [01:24.13]Gemini Five, [01:25.95]suffered a number of technical problems. [01:29.82]But they were able to survive in space [01:33.50]for eight days. [01:35.73]Then it was time to launch Gemini Six. [01:40.35]Its crew would attempt a move [01:43.68]that would be necessary [01:45.38]for any landing on the moon. [01:48.02]The astronauts would chase [01:50.63]another object orbiting Earth. [01:53.79]And they would move their spacecraft [01:56.54]as close as possible to it. [01:59.57]However,the target a satellite [02:04.19]apparently exploded after it was launched. [02:08.44]So America's space agency,NASA, [02:12.18]said there was no reason [02:14.50]to send up Gemini Six. [02:17.02]NASA decided to move ahead [02:20.07]with the next flight,Gemini seven. [02:23.34]Then NASA considered yet another plan. [02:28.66]It would launch Gemini Seven. [02:31.53]And,if everything was ready, [02:34.17]it would launch Gemini Six [02:37.13]a few days later. [02:38.83]Gemini Six would chase, [02:41.74]and get close to, [02:43.60]Gemini Seven instead of a satellite. [02:47.52]Astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell [02:51.66]were the crew of Gemini Seven. [02:54.20]They would make the longest, [02:56.67]most difficult flight ever. [02:59.33]They would spend fourteen days [03:02.26]in their tiny spacecraft. [03:04.42]Gemini Seven lifted off [03:08.82]from Cape Canaveral,Florida, [03:11.02]on Friday,December third, [03:14.13]nineteen sixty-five. [03:16.64]Workers at the space center [03:19.56]examined the launch area. [03:22.01]There appeared to be no major damage. [03:25.79]The workers quickly moved [03:28.59]another huge Titan rocket into place. [03:32.46]On top of the rocket [03:35.13]sat the Gemini Six spacecraft. [03:38.43]NASA announced that Gemini Six [03:42.74]would be launched [03:44.12]in the early morning of Sunday, [03:46.35]December twelfth. [03:48.21]The timing would put the two spacecraft [03:51.94]in the correct orbit to meet in space. [03:56.02]Astronauts Walter Schirra [03:59.46]and Thomas Stafford prepared [04:01.62]for their flight. [04:03.35]They had waited once in a spacecraft [04:05.88]that never left the ground. [04:08.06]Their first launch had been cancelled [04:11.46]because the target satellite exploded. [04:14.79]This time,they hoped, [04:17.30]things would be different. [04:19.48](MUSIC) [04:34.64]On that Sunday morning, [04:36.17]Schirra and Stafford were again [04:38.47]in their tiny Gemini Six spacecraft [04:41.99]atop the Titan rocket. [04:43.84]Borman and Lovell, [04:45.80]in Gemini Seven, [04:47.32]speeded across the United States. [04:50.40]The countdown at Cape Canaveral [04:53.43]reached zero as Gemini Seven [04:56.28]passed overhead. [04:57.98]Frank Borman's disappointed words [05:01.36]from space told the story. [05:03.66]"I saw ignition.and then shutdown." [05:07.32]For some reason, [05:09.50]the Titan rocket engines [05:11.77] had fired as planned. [05:13.33]But then they shut themselves off [05:18.28]one second later. [05:20.85]For several tense minutes, [05:23.53]the astronauts of Gemini Six [05:26.30]were sitting on top of a highly [05:28.81]explosive mass of rocket fuel. [05:31.58]Schirra waited with his hand [05:34.55]on a special device. [05:36.28]If he pulled it, [05:38.01]he and Stafford would get away safely. [05:41.15]If he did not pull it, [05:43.47]and the rocket exploded, [05:45.19]they would be killed. [05:46.97]With nerves of steel, [05:49.49]the astronauts waited. [05:51.25]The rocket did not explode. [05:54.54]Once again,Schirra and Stafford [05:59.05]climbed out of Gemini Six. [06:01.34]Borman and Lovell [06:03.46]continued to circle the Earth. [06:05.61]Soon,the public heard the report. [06:09.64]A tiny part at the bottom of the rocket [06:13.53]had fallen out too early. [06:16.03]That tiny part sent a signal to computers [06:21.04]that the launch had taken place. [06:23.39]The computers immediately [06:26.12]shut off the rocket engines. [06:28.28]Space agency officials [06:31.78]decided to try one more time. [06:34.85]They set the launch for three days later. [06:39.17]It would be the last chance for Gemini Six [06:43.70]to attempt to meet [06:45.68]with Gemini Seven in space. [06:48.52]If this attempt failed, [06:51.48]the United States would suffer [06:54.03]a serious delay in its goal [06:57.05]to land astronauts on the moon. [07:00.04]Borman and Lovell [07:02.64]continued to circle the Earth, [07:05.00]day after day, [07:06.94]as workers hurried [07:09.11]to meet the new launch date. [07:11.35]They were almost [07:13.65]three hundred kilometers high. [07:15.95]They were moving [07:17.59]at twenty-eight thousand kilometers an hour. [07:21.61]December fifteenth, [07:24.74]nineteen sixty-five. [07:26.75]This was it. [07:28.31]What could be an impossible effort [07:31.45]in the history of spaceflight [07:33.44]was ready to lift off [07:35.31]on its final chance for success. [07:38.08]For the third time, [07:40.22]Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford [07:43.11]put on their space clothing. [07:45.20]They took their places [07:47.69]in the Gemini Six spacecraft. [07:50.30]The countdown reached zero just [07:53.86]as Frank Borman and James Lovell, [07:56.17]in Gemini Seven, [07:57.94]passed overhead. [07:59.41]This time,with a thundering roar, [08:02.80]Gemini Six rose into the air. [08:06.06]As it headed into space, [08:08.91]a radio announcer said: [08:11.17]"This whole nation pushed that one up." [08:14.46](MUSIC) [08:34.25]Now there were four Americans in space. [08:37.38]Gemini Six followed Gemini Seven, [08:41.92]but in a lower orbit [08:44.46]that moved the two spacecraft [08:46.96]closer together. [08:48.50]Flight controllers on the ground [08:52.08]held their breath. [08:53.55]Success was near. [08:56.02]Yet failure was still very possible. [09:00.10]The spacecraft were almost [09:03.53]two thousand kilometers apart. [09:06.50]They needed to get [09:08.52]within six hundred meters of each other. [09:11.55]Only then would space agency officials [09:15.70]consider the project a complete success. [09:19.38]Time passed quickly as Schirra moved [09:24.26]Gemini Six closer and closer to its target. [09:27.67]Gemini Six was now eight kilometers behind, [09:32.09]and twenty-four kilometers below, [09:35.25]Gemini Seven. [09:36.52]Schirra fired a rocket exactly long enough [09:41.17]to put his spacecraft in the same orbit. [09:44.15]Then radar on each spacecraft [09:47.84]noted the other spacecraft. [09:50.28]Happily,Schirra sent a radio message [09:54.04]to Gemini Seven. [09:55.41]"We'll be up shortly," he said. [09:58.12]A few minutes later, [10:00.29]the astronauts were able to see [10:02.96]each others' spacecraft. [10:05.13]Success seemed within reach. [10:07.62]Only six-and-one-half kilometers [10:10.90]separated them. [10:12.32]The two spacecraft continued [10:15.13]to float together,far out in space. [10:18.50]They moved closer and closer together [10:23.50]as they flew across the Indian Ocean. [10:26.65]It was about six hours [10:31.92]since the launch of Gemini Six. [10:34.35]For a while, [10:36.88]there was no communication [10:39.19]from space to Earth. [10:41.22]The spacecraft were too far [10:44.56]from any ground station [10:46.56]to send clear messages. [10:49.11]Finally,the voice of Thomas Stafford [10:53.32]came through the silence of Space: [10:55.77]"We are thirty-six meters apart and sitting." [11:00.69]Thirty-six meters! [11:03.48]That was far better than [11:05.87]the six hundred meters space agency officials [11:08.85]would have considered a complete success. [11:11.44]In fact,the two spacecraft [11:14.49]almost touched each other [11:16.33]before they separated. [11:17.93]Space agency officials now knew [11:22.46]that it was possible to join [11:24.75]two orbiting spacecraft. [11:27.73]The crew on Gemini Six [11:30.66]had made the operation seem easy. [11:34.01]As the American astronauts [11:37.72]continued to float through space, [11:40.27]they inspected each other [11:42.52]and each other's spacecraft. [11:45.06]Frank Borman noted happily [11:48.07]that after twelve lonely days in space, [11:51.86]he and James Lovell finally [11:54.93]had company for one night! [11:56.83]The next day, [11:58.73]Schirra and Stafford [12:02.58]completed their flight. [12:04.27]Gemini Six landed in the Atlantic Ocean [12:08.10]within twenty kilometers [12:10.24]of the rescue ship. [12:11.92]Gemini Seven continued to speed on. [12:15.72]On December eighteenth, [12:20.08]ground controllers asked Borman and Lovell [12:23.54]if they were ready to come home. [12:25.99]"Ready! Ready!" the astronauts answered. [12:29.61]Gemini Seven landed [12:32.19]as perfectly as Gemini Six. [12:35.30]Astronauts Borman and Lovell [12:38.50]had been in space more than [12:41.12]three hundred thirty hours. [12:43.82]They had traveled almost eight million [12:47.17]five hundred thousand kilometers. [12:50.56](MUSIC) [13:06.69]The flights of Gemini Six [13:08.52]and Gemini Seven greatly increased hope [13:12.25]that Americans soon would be able [13:14.85]to land on the moon. [13:16.42]Schirra and Stafford proved [13:19.48]that spaceships could link up [13:21.79]while in orbit. [13:23.20]Borman and Lovell proved [13:25.84]that humans could survive in space [13:28.76]for the time needed to get [13:30.97]to the moon and back. [13:32.49]The distance to the moon [13:34.67]suddenly seemed shorter. [13:36.80]Five more Gemini flights followed. [13:41.53]Other spacecraft joined [13:44.29]with other targets in space [13:46.46]and landed exactly where planned. [13:49.89]Astronauts worked for [13:52.53]longer periods of time [13:54.23]in the hostile environment of space. [13:57.39]The Gemini program [13:59.98]had reached all its goals. [14:02.75]Now,the United States was ready [14:05.91]for the next historic jump into space. [14:10.02]It would be Project Apollo. [14:13.26]Project Apollo would land men on the moon. [14:18.46](MUSIC) [14:29.23]This Special English program [14:30.97]was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. [14:34.20]Your narrators were Shirley Griffith [14:37.27]and Tony Riggs. [14:38.96]I'm Doug Johnson. [14:41.04]Listen again next week [14:43.67]for another EXPLORATIONS program [14:46.76]on the Voice of America.