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Before the advent of YouTube and other video sharing venue via the Internet, broadcast
television was THE medium for visual entertainment other than an occasional
jaunt to the movie theater. You either watched shows when they first aired or hope
to catch them on reruns. TV Guide
was THE go-to publication for all things television. Out of print now,
it was for many of us the schedule setter for Saturday morning cartoons and Prime
Time comedy shows.
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While
looking for the edition of TV Guide that published the
first airing of "A
Charlie Brown Christmas," I noticed that the time period coincided
with the launching of the Gemini VII spacecraft. In a stroke of
good fortune, it indeed included an announcement that regularly scheduled
programming would be preempted as necessary to provide live coverage
of the launch, to give timely updates, and to coverage the splashdown
in the Atlantic Ocean.2:30 GEMINI SPACE FLIGHT
The
14-day Gemini VII space flight is scheduled for launching from Cape
Kennedy's Pad 19 at 2:30 P.M. Astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell
will be making man's longest journey into space, which will help determine
the medical and psychological effects of prolonged periods of weightlessness.
Twenty medical and technological experi-ments will also be conducted.
This will also be the first U.S. "shirt-sleeves" flight. After
making certain that the space capsule's pressure hull will not expose
them to the vacuum of space, Borman and Lovell will remove their pressure
suits and spend about 10 days of the flight in the comfort of their
undergarments. The astronauts will suit up again for reentry. (Splashdown
is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 18, in the West Atlantic.) Borman
and Lovell will not be alone for all of their 14-day flight. On Dec.
13, NASA plans to launch the Gemini VI space capsule. Astronauts Walter
Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford will guide their craft to a rendezvous
with Gemini VII, which will go into a 18S-mile circular orbit for the
meeting. There will be no docking maneuvers, and NASA has denied
reports that Stafford will take a spacewalk between the two capsules.
The Gemini VI flight, originally scheduled for last October, had to
be postponed because of a malfunction in the Atlas-Agena rocket, with
which Schirra and Stafford were to rendezvous and dock. Live
network coverage will originate from Pad 19, the White House, NASA's
Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, and other sites. Delays in launching
could postpone the liftoff until tomorrow or Monday. If the flight is
postponed, the networks will resume regular programming, returning to
Cape Kennedy on the rescheduled flight date.
It was after the rendezvous with Gemini 6A that
astronauts Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford famously broke out in a
surprise round of "Jingle
Bells" after giving a faux report of a 'UFO' sighting of a man in
a red suit and eight tiny reindeer pulling a sleigh.
Here
are the basics of the Gemini VII program from the NASA website.
Many of the hyperlinks on pages linked to from NASA's main Gemini page
turn up empty pages. The Affordable Healthcare Act (aka Obammacare)
programmers must be maintaining the NASA website now, too :-(
Gemini-VII
Pad LC-19 () Titan-II (6)
Crew: Frank Borman
(1), Commander James A. Lovell (1), Pilot
Backup Crew:
Edward H. White II Michael Collins
CapCom: Alan L. Bean
(Cape) Elliot M. See Jr. (Houston) Eugene A. Cernan (Houston)
Charles A. Bassett II (Houston)
Milestones: <blank>
Payload:
Gemini-VII capsule
Mission Objective:
Primary object was to conduct 14-day mission and evaluate effects on
crew. Secondary objectives included: Provide target for Gemini VI-A.
Stationkeep with Gemini VI-A and with second stage of GLV. Conduct 20
experiments. Evaluate lightweight pressure suit. Evaluate spacecraft
reentry capability. Conduct systems tests. Spacecraft weight: 3663kg.
Launch: December 4, 1965 2:30:03.702pm EST
Orbit:
Altitude: 327km (177.1 nm)
Inclination: 28.89 degrees Orbits:
206 Duration: 13 Days, 18 hours, 35 min, 1 seconds Distance:
km Landing:
December 18, 1965. Landed at 25deg 25.1min North, 70.6deg 7min West
Miss distance was 11.8km (6.4nm).
Mission Highlights:
All primary and secondary objectives were achieved.
Click Here more information about Gemini-VII Posted on November 30, 2013
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