Student group wants to revive Gemini spacecraft design

All they need is the money to do it....

Seems to me a better clean sheet design could be made.

http://www.aio50.org/

On Aug 12, 3:44*pm, OM wrote:
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:15:53 -0700 (PDT), M
wrote:

Seems to me a better clean sheet design could be made.

...Actually, Gemini is one of those designs that if McNamara hadn't
been such a spoogesponge and let the Air Farce have their MOL and Blue
Gemini, would most likely still be flying today, although most likely
updated to glass cockpits by now. The base design is pretty damn
efficient for two people, and fulfilled its mission design more than
satisfactorily.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *OM

--

* ]=====================================[
* ] * OMBlog -http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld* [
* ] * * * *Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* * * * * [
* ] * * * * *an obnoxious opinion in your day! * * * * * [
* ]=====================================[

For it's time it was a great spacecraft design. But I would not
personally want to repeat sitting in one for two weeks like Borman and
Lovell did.

On Aug 12, 3:44 pm, OM wrote:

...Actually, Gemini is one of those designs that if McNamara hadn't
been such a spoogesponge and let the Air Farce have their MOL and Blue
Gemini, would most likely still be flying today, although most likely
updated to glass cockpits by now. The base design is pretty damn
efficient for two people, and fulfilled its mission design more than
satisfactorily.

Didn't McNamara at least admit many of his sins?

I always thought Gemini was a good idea for short trips. It's my
understanding that it needed to be a bit larger.


M

On Aug 12, 3:15 pm, M wrote:
All they need is the money to do it....

Seems to me a better clean sheet design could be made.

http://www.aio50.org/


Fascinating. The whole thing is a little short on specifics .....

" wrote in news:51eaaf7c-f509-4ed3-
:

On Aug 12, 3:44 pm, OM wrote:

...Actually, Gemini is one of those designs that if McNamara hadn't
been such a spoogesponge and let the Air Farce have their MOL and Blue
Gemini, would most likely still be flying today, although most likely
updated to glass cockpits by now. The base design is pretty damn
efficient for two people, and fulfilled its mission design more than
satisfactorily.

Didn't McNamara at least admit many of his sins?

I always thought Gemini was a good idea for short trips. It's my
understanding that it needed to be a bit larger.

Do a search for "big Gemini".

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bigemini.htm

--Damon

"OM" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:15:53 -0700 (PDT), M
wrote:

Seems to me a better clean sheet design could be made.

...Actually, Gemini is one of those designs that if McNamara hadn't
been such a spoogesponge and let the Air Farce have their MOL and Blue
Gemini, would most likely still be flying today, although most likely
updated to glass cockpits by now. The base design is pretty damn
efficient for two people, and fulfilled its mission design more than
satisfactorily.

OM

And what exactly would folks be doing with it? It's not a very useful ferry
craft. It's a huge waste to launch an MOL each time.

2 crew doesn't gain you much functionality.

While it as a cool and nimble craft for its time, it really would have much
of a role today.

"Damon Hill" wrote in message
...
" wrote in
news:51eaaf7c-f509-4ed3-
:

On Aug 12, 3:44 pm, OM wrote:

...Actually, Gemini is one of those designs that if McNamara hadn't
been such a spoogesponge and let the Air Farce have their MOL and Blue
Gemini, would most likely still be flying today, although most likely
updated to glass cockpits by now. The base design is pretty damn
efficient for two people, and fulfilled its mission design more than
satisfactorily.

Didn't McNamara at least admit many of his sins?

I always thought Gemini was a good idea for short trips. It's my
understanding that it needed to be a bit larger.

Do a search for "big Gemini".

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bigemini.htm


This always struck me as a great paper design. How well it would have
worked in practice, who knows.


--Damon




--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

And what exactly would folks be doing with it? It's not a very useful ferry
craft. It's a huge waste to launch an MOL each time.

2 crew doesn't gain you much functionality.

While it as a cool and nimble craft for its time, it really would have much
of a role today.

True enough. In today's world, its nearly as useless as Soyuz...

Oh wait, it looks like Soyuz will outlive Shuttle.
--
Kevin Willoughby lid

It doesn't take many trips in Air Force One
to spoil you. -- Ronald Reagan

"kevin willoughby" wrote in message
...
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

And what exactly would folks be doing with it? It's not a very useful
ferry craft. It's a huge waste to launch an MOL each time.

2 crew doesn't gain you much functionality.

While it as a cool and nimble craft for its time, it really would have
much of a role today.

True enough. In today's world, its nearly as useless as Soyuz...

Oh wait, it looks like Soyuz will outlive Shuttle.

Of course Soyuz has features that Gemini didn't, such as a crew of 3 (yes, I
know for a good portion of its history it was limited to 2) and a docking
mechanism that permits the crew to make a transfer to another craft w/o
spacesuits. Gemini didn't have that and any design that permits that
quickly becomes something other than Gemini.

So, no Soyuz isn't nearly as useless.


--
Kevin Willoughby lid

It doesn't take many trips in Air Force One
to spoil you. -- Ronald Reagan



--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

On Aug 13, 7:26 am, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

Of course Soyuz has features that Gemini didn't, such as a crew of 3 (yes, I
know for a good portion of its history it was limited to 2) and a docking
mechanism that permits the crew to make a transfer to another craft w/o
spacesuits. Gemini didn't have that and any design that permits that
quickly becomes something other than Gemini.

So, no Soyuz isn't nearly as useless.

Perhaps Soyuz is the real answer, then. Placing it in production in
the USA, perhaps.


Mike