Rocket Engine, Liquid Fuel, Reentry Control System (RCS), Gemini VIII
Object Details
- Date
- ca. 1966
- Manufacturer
- Rocketdyne
- Summary
- This is a cutaway of a 25-pound thrust Gemini Reentry Control System (RCS) thruster. This thruster flew on Gemini VIII, launched on 16 March 1966 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. The launch went smoothly but a major problem developed after docking of the spacecraft with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle, when a spacecraft OAMS thruster malfunctioned. The crew undocked from the Agena and brought the spacecraft under control by deactivating the OAMS and using the reentry control system (RCS) to reduce the spacecraft's rapid rotation. Premature use of the RCS, however, required the mission to be terminated early. Armstrong and Scott landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on 17 March 1966.
- This object is half of one of the RCS thrusters in the nose of Gemini VIII encased in a block of Lucite. By 1969, the Smithsonian Institution's National Collection held both the thruster and the Gemini VIII capsule.
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- Location
- Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
- Hangar
- James S. McDonnell Space Hangar
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Data Source
- National Air and Space Museum
- Inventory Number
- A19721289001
- Type
- MEMORABILIA-Events
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Materials
- plastic, metal
- Dimensions
- 3-D: 27.9 x 12.7 x 12.7cm (11 x 5 x 5 in.)
- Record ID
- nasm_A19721289001
Cylindrical, metallic, with canted 30 degree elliptical exhaust exit at end; two propellant feed-in pipes jutting out from top of cylinder, in V-pattern, with smaller pipes attached; nozzle, phenolic; the whole, encased in a rectangular wedge-shaped lucite or plexiglas block. Stamped in black on top: "25 lb Thruster Used on GEMINI VII 16 March 1966"; in black on bottom, at left, beneath the rear of the thruster: "ASTRONAUTS
NEIL A. ARMSTRONG Command Pilot
DAVID R. SCOTT Pilot"
In black, on bottom, at right, beneath the top of the thruster:
Displayed Thru the Courtesy of
The SMITHSONIAN INSTIUTION and
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS ASTRONAUITCS COMPANY
