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Dave Scott’s flown American flag, 5.5 x 4, which was carried into low Earth orbit during the historic Gemini 8 mission, signed and flight-certified in blue ballpoint, “Flown on Gemini VIII, DRS.” In fine condition. Accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity from Scott, who offers a detailed personal account of the Gemini 8 mission, in part: “I hereby certify that the small United States flag…included with this letter is from my personal collection and was flown aboard Gemini VIII on March 16, 1966…
Gemini VIII was the first mission scheduled to demonstrate the full spectrum of manned spaceflight operations: rendezvous, docking (the first), combined vehicle maneuvers (with the Agena target vehicle), an extensive Extravehicular Activity (EVA) demonstration (1% hours), and various science experiments. It was the sixth manned Gemini mission with Neil Armstrong as Commander and Dave Scott as Pilot. However, due to a major systems failure and emergency recovery, the mission was terminated early and landed in a secondary recovery zone (the first such emergency recovery).
Gemini VIII was launched from Complex 19 at 10:41:02 a.m. EST (16:41:02 UT) on 16 March 1966. Over the next six hours the spacecraft performed 9 maneuvers to rendezvous at 4:39 p.m. EST with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV), launched earlier (at 9:00 a.m. EST). Then Gemini VIII moved in and docked with the GATV on the 5th revolution at 5:14 p.m., the first docking in space.
About 27 minutes after docking, during darkness and out of contact with ground stations, the combined vehicles began an uncontrolled roll and tumble. Armstrong and Scott undocked the Gemini spacecraft from the GATV causing it to roll, pitch, and yaw even more rapidly, approaching a rate of one revolution per second. After almost 25 minutes of uncontrolled roll and tumble, Armstrong finally stabilized the spacecraft by deactivating the primary Orbit Attitude and Maneuver System (OAMS) and activating the Reentry Control System (RCS) thrusters. An onboard evaluation of the OAMS by the crew indicated that OAMS thruster no. 8 had been firing on and off intermittently regardless of hand-controller or computer commands.
Due to the premature use of the RCS an immediate landing was required by Gemini mission rules; therefore the planned EVA and other activities were cancelled. Retrofire took place on the 7th revolution at 9:45:49 p.m. on 16 March, just over 10 hours after launch. The spacecraft splashed down in the western Pacific Ocean about 800 km west of Okinawa at 25.22 N, 136.00 E, 2 km from the target. Total mission elapsed time was 10:41:26. Three hours later, the crew and spacecraft were picked up by the recovery ship U.S.S. Mason (1:28 a.m. EST, 17 March).
Early termination of the mission precluded achievement of many mission objectives, but the rendezvous and docking were accomplished, as was the evaluation of the auxiliary tape memory unit and demonstration of controlled reentry. The Agena Target Vehicle remained fully operational in orbit and maneuvers were performed by ground command for use on subsequent missions. This Gemini VIII United States Flag has been in my personal collection since returning to Earth.”
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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