A detailed, yet highly readable book, On the Shoulders of Titans should be the starting point for all who are interested in the basic history of the Gemini Program. NASA's second human spaceflight program, Gemini laid the groundwork for the more ambitious Apollo program which put astronauts on the Moon.

This stunning collection of images illustrates the incredible impact the Gemini space missions had on science and the amazing crew and spacecraft that were instrumental to the program's success. Essential facts obtained from official NASA documents detail the science involved in reaching Earth's orbit and remaining in space for days at a time and provide insight into the data gleaned during the Gemini missions that eventually led to landing on the Moon. Comprehensive and succinct, this guide to the Gemini missions will appeal to both new and old space enthusiasts.

In just two-and-a-half years, beginning in 1964, two unmanned and ten manned flights took place in the Gemini program. This program was the turning point in the space race with the USSR; from then on the Americans took the lead. Flights lasting two weeks, into the Van Allen Belt, the first extravehicular activities, rendezvous maneuvers and docking with other spacecraft--all of this was achieved by Gemini, paving the way for the more demanding moon landing program. It was not all success, however. Like almost every significant undertaking, Project Gemini also had its dramas and tragedies. All Project Gemini missions are discussed, including details on all craft and the astronauts involved. Superb color, archival images, cutaways and plans are also included.

Gemini was the second major project in the United States' manned spaceflight effort. This title will examine each two-man mission to test equipment and techniques to be used by the later Apollo missions to the Moon. These include docking maneuvers and spacewalks, all untested before the Gemini missions. Will also examine the parallel space exploration efforts of the Soviet Union during this period. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo & Daughters is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Scott Ourecky wanted to fly; he never dreamed he'd end up in a secret military space program. The year is 1968. The Cold War is far from over, and nuclear annihilation is always only a heartbeat away. America is racing the Soviet Union to land men on the moon, a war is raging, and a pivotal presidential election looms on the horizon. A child of the early space age, Lieutenant Scott Ourecky joins the Air Force with aspirations of going to flight school. A brilliant engineer, he repeatedly fails the aptitude test to become a pilot but is selected to work on a highly classified military space program—the innocuously named Aerospace Support Project—n which Air Force astronauts are slated to fly missions to intercept and destroy suspect Soviet satellites. When one of the astronauts in training abruptly falls out of the project, Ourecky is asked to fill in for the two-man simulated missions and survival training only, serving with a headstrong and abrasive test pilot, Major Drew Carson, until another astronaut can be assigned. By far the most proficient pilot assigned to the project, Carson has a dangerous propensity to engage in pickup dogfighting sessions while on cross-country training flights. And although Ourecky was only a temporary placeholder, not destined to fly in space, he soon finds himself much more involved than he ever anticipated—and in deepest peril. Based on a real secret space program, Blue Gemini combines high-altitude action with edge-of-your-seat storytelling to create a modern classic Cold War thriller.

In Gemini - Steps to the Moon, David Shayler, the author, tells the story of the origin and development of the programme and the spacecraft from the perspective of the engineers, flight controllers and astronauts involved. It includes chapters on flight tests, Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), rendezvous and docking, as well as information from NASA archives and personal interviews.

The highlight of Gemini 4 was America's first EVA or "space walk," performed by astronaut Ed White, which allowed the US to catch up with the Soviet Union, who had already performed the world's first space walk. White's EVA was so successful that he had to be ordered back into the Gemini capsule after its completion. --

The social context in which NASA learned to fly in space, with an explicit mandate to reach the moon set against a tight deadline, is described in this historical analysis.