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United States
Men In Space Series: Gemini VII
USA Moon Landing Commemorative Medal
1970’s Silver Medal 35mm (23.62 grams) 0.925 Sterling Silver
RENDEZVOUS
WITH GEMINI VI LOVELL – BORMAN, Lunar capsule approaching Gemini VI capsule.
GEMINI VII MISSION: RENDEZVOUS WITH
GEMINI VI AND LONG PERIOD FLIGHT EFFECTS ROCKET: TITAN 2 REVOLUTIONS: 206 DISTANCE:
5,716,900 MILES DECEMBER 4, 1965, Logo above.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA’s Gemini program. It was the fourth crewed Gemini flight, the twelfth crewed American spaceflight, and the twenty-first crewed spaceflight including Soviet flights and X-15 flights above the Kármán line. The crew of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent nearly 14 days in space, making a total of 206 orbits. Their spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.
Gemini 7 was originally intended to fly after Gemini 6, but the original Gemini 6 mission was cancelled after the failure during launch of the Agena Target Vehicle with which it was meant to rendezvous and dock. The objective of rendezvous was so important, that it was decided to fly the alternate Gemini 6A mission concurrently with Gemini 7, using the latter as the rendezvous target.
The original mission of Gemini 7 changed little with these new plans. It was always planned to be a long duration flight, investigating the effects of fourteen days in space on the human body. This doubled the length of time that anyone had been in space and stood as the longest spaceflight duration record for five years.
This 14-day mission required NASA to solve some of the problems of long-duration space flight, such as stowage of waste (the crew had practiced stuffing waste paper behind their seats before the flight). Timing their workday to match that of the prime shift ground crews, both men worked and slept at the same time. Gemini 7 conducted twenty experiments, the most of any Gemini mission, including studies of nutrition in space. The astronauts also evaluated a lightweight spacesuit, the G5C, which proved uncomfortable when worn for a long time in the Gemini spacecraft’s hot, cramped quarters. The high point of the mission came on the eleventh day with the rendezvous with Gemini 6A.
Both astronauts, heeding the advice of Pete Conrad who had flown for eight days on Gemini 5, took books along to read. Gemini 7 held the record for the longest space flight until Soyuz 9 in June 1970, and was the longest crewed space flight in U.S. history until the Skylab 2 mission of May and June 1973.
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