NASA's Gemini space flight programme followed on from the pioneering Mercury missions which put the first US astronauts into space. The Gemini spacecraft was an agile flying machine for fighter pilots, which gave the US the tool it needed to fly into space, and in doing so prepared NASA to travel to the Moon. In a breathless series of 10 manned flights spread across only 20 months of 1965 and 1966, Gemini propelled NASA from being a tentative, inexperienced space agency to a tough, competent and confident organisation that could send astronauts to another world. This Manual celebrates this important spacecraft with a thorough look at the technologies and techniques that were developed for the programme during its heyday.
W. David Woods has studied the American space programme for 20 years and curates the Apollo Flight Journal website, hosted by NASA. He wrote How Apollo Flew to the Moon, an acclaimed book on the techniques and technologies of the Apollo programme. He co-authored the Haynes Lunar Rover Manual.
David M. Harland has written extensively about space and astronautics with two-dozen books to his name. These include the highly regarded Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions and Apollo 11: The First Men on the Moon. He also authored How NASA Learned to Fly in Space: An Exciting Account of the Gemini Missions.