Space Flight Full Of Trouble

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31079, 7 June 1966, Page 13

Space Flight Full Of Trouble

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copi/riflht) CAPE KENNEDY, June 6. The Gemini IX crew, T. Stafford and E. Gernan, will splash down in the Atlantic today to end a three-day space flight which was dogged by snags.

America’s latest space twins, of repeated technical failures, are expected to meet reasonable weather when they drop into the eastern Atlantic 125 miles north-east of Grand Bahama Island. After being picked up by the aircraft carrier Wasp, they will immediately begin several days of interrogation,

filling miles of recorded tape with every detail of their trouble-plagued flight. Doctors on the Wasp will give them searching physical examinations to add to their knowledge of how the human body adjusts to conditions in space. Major Disappointment The major disappointment of their flight came when Cerhan, blinded by frosted fog on his visor, was unable to complete his two-hour “space walk” yesterday. He was to have donned an untried “flying chair” for an independent rocket-ride outside Gemini IX. The effort of unloading the back pack was four to five times harder than in rehearsals on earth. Cernan perspired so heavily that moisture collected on his face shield and then froze, completely blocking his vision. A bulky shroud, which failed to blast clear from a docking ring on Friday, thwarted the plan to dock at least nine times with a target satellite. Instead, the astronauts had to be satisfied with three rendezvous manouvres. Some Experiments After yesterday’s walk, Stafford and Cernan performed a few scientific experiments before beginning an eat-and-rest period while in drifting flight.

Their achievements represented a shorter stride towards man’s conquest of the moon than planned, but the three new and difficult rendezvous manoeuvres w’ith the target rocket were essential to that goal.