Great video! What I love about the Apollo escape tower is that during one of its test flights (when they tested it unmanned) the Little Joe rocket they were using actually tumbled out of control and broke apart during the ascent. The mission was basically a spectacular failure (they had wanted to test a high-altitude deployment) but the escape tower automatically deployed and performed flawlessly. So, in the midst of this failure, the actual piece of equipment they wanted to test performed its function for the first time under an actual (unplanned) abort condition (as opposed to carefully controlled conditions of previous tests) and proved that the concept was sound.
I remember reading what Gemini 3 pilot John Young said about the seats ejecting, but the doors staying shut; "you'll get a hell of a headache, but a short one!!"
I had to read this twice, because at first I though he was referring to the Shuttle! The first 4 Shuttle test flights had ejector seats for the commander and pilot, and of course Young commanded the first Shuttle flight.
He said this after a failed test of the ejection system when the hatches failed to open and the seats were ejected right through the hatches, shredding the test dummies strapped into the seats.
The story of how the LES actually was triggered is pretty cool. You should do a video describing how the thing worked. I'm sure the viewers would like that!
I recently discovered your channel. I'm one of the lucky ones who (quite literally) grew up in front of the television set watching the entire space program from Alan Shepherd's first flight up through Skylab 4. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to relive those wonderful years through your videos. Thanks so much!
I watched the Gemini 6 and 7 launch when I was a kid.Im 58 and have always been a space geek. This is the only channel I subscribe to.Keep up the good work.
Wow! I actually remember following Gemini on television, and all these years, I never noticed that they lacked launch escape towers until you just mentioned it.
All of your videos are very good but this was a 3 minute gem. You managed to get a ton of design logic and NASA politics into this video! This includes a bunch of stuff I knew about the pieces but really hadn't put together on my own before, like the ejection seats and cockpit layout being legacy design from the paraglider landing concept. Ejection systems are super interesting, especially ones meant to deal with extreme conditions like those on Gemini or on the X-15. Super enlightening video.
I am guessing the commander of a Gemini mission would carefully open the circuit breaker on that system once in orbit. Not something you'd like to do accidentally.
I wouldn't bet my life that the Gemini ejection seats would've actually worked in the case of an exploding rocket. I'm glad no one had to find out. It's no accident that the system was never tested with living volunteers.
I love your VIntage Space series Amy, I was a kid when a lot of what you're talking about was happening so I was really into that at the time. I have to say though that the down side is that the vintage manned space achievements seems to be so much more interesting than anything since. Sure, now we know what happens to a person's bones after a year in space, but It's too bad that "vintage" has to be the title of what is arguably the most interesting (if not the riskiest) things we have done. I certainly hope for more good stuff to come before I check out!
Thank you for the Escape Tower info. I left you a message asking for a program on the towers themselves. Nice to hear you mention James (Jim) Chamberlin, (May 23, 1915 - March 8, 1981) a Canadian aerodynamicist who contributed to the design of the Canadian Avro Arrow, then Gemini and later Apollo. Thank you for that. and for this video Excellent as usual!
Hi Amy. Was wondering if you'd done a video on the strange sounds/music heard by the Apollo 10 astronauts when they were on the far side of the moon? I saw a video with a couple of shots of you in it talking about the declassification of the transcripts and automatically wondered if you'd done one yourself. Also, ive noticed the cuts as you go through your videos, I'd love to see a blooper reel 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Amy! It's not Gemini related and my apologies if this is covered in another of your videos as I've not watched them all yet, however I was wondering is you can answer an Apollo LEM question? Given that the LEM was very fragile, how was it able to be pressurised so that the astronauts could breathe without having to wear a pressure suit? Also, did they suit up in the LEM during flight and stay suited up, or were they able to repressurise the LEM on the suface of the Moon? Best wishes and thanks for your super-interesgting channel! Paul x
I never noticed the lack of an escape tower. And never thought of how the astronauts would escape an exploding rocket. Thank you Amy. (BTW like the hair)
The museum at the Pueblo Colorado airport has a solid fuel ring from the Apollo escape tower. Right over the display is a small sign that says “no smoking”.
Awesome channel.....brings me back to my kid days when a space mission was such a huge deal....watching liftoff live on tv with Cronkite et. al. giving the synopsis... watching exploration of a new frontier happen right from the living room.
Loved this vid. Being a former USN Medic and having been trained a bit on ejection related injury and trauma, I'm thinking this system would be dubious at best to use once the ship was moving faster than about M3, and to my knowledge this was way before zero zero seats were available. The average American ejection seat during the 60's and 70's would put the pilot into a 12 to 14g unregulated and uncontrollable maneuver. Because of the limitations of the human body you can't just crank the rockets in the seats up to get them out faster. These seats cause lumbar compression along with a bunch of other potential injuries, even if they are used properly (proper neck, back arm and leg position are adhered to at the point of activation). During the time frame of Gemini an ejection at any speed above M3 was considered dangerous at best. And there is always the possibility of canopy contact (in this case hatch contact) which is why most jets now have det chord on the canopy. So what was the point of no return? Was there a point where the Space Craft would be moving at a greater vertical velocity than the relative horizontal velocity the ejection seat could compensate for? Or was the PONR altitude driven? Also if the failure came before the rocket left the pad could they punch out at a 90deg. attitude to horizon at 100 feet and have successful separation and parachute deployment? Thanks again and keep the videos coming!!!!!
I believe the second stage would have ignited and propelled the spacecraft away from a first stage failing at altitude. The "holes" Amy refers to would help here (i.e. "live" staging).
I'd have to check but I think M4 and 100k ft was the rating. This design utilized the most powerful rocket-catapult(ROCAT) design at the time and zero-zero seats were pioneered in the US by Weber Aircraft on the F-102 and F-106 aircraft. Gordon Cress, my friend, worked on the only Zero-Zero test done with a live human subject (MAJ Jim Hall) in Project 90. He also worked on these seat designs.
Great video. When I was a kid, I wondered what that tower on top of the Mercury and Apollo rockets was for. I asked around, but nobody knew. As an aside, there is a scene in the Batman vs Superman movie that really gets to me, the one where Superman rescues astronauts from an exploding rocket. I suspect the people who made that movie didn't know about rocket launch escape systems, and how effective they are. Either that, or they count on people watching the movie not knowing. (Which, in all likelihood, is the case) Anyway, that scene gets to me because the astronauts likely would have been much safer had Superman left them alone and allowed the launch escape system do what it was designed to do.
How much room was in the Apollo command module? How did the astronauts move from their launch couches into the lunar module ? Also how much privacy did the astronauts have in the command module for personal needs?
Great video :) Can you do a video on the evolution of the on-board computers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules please? Apparently someone re-created the Apollo Guidance Computer in his basement!
Will you every come the the S.F. Bay Area to give any talks about Vintage Space or any related issues? Or even to tell about your recent book. It would be fascinating to hear your stories, especially any stories about your meeting with any of the astronauts, Original Seven or the New Nine or others? You might have a big audience here in California! I would attend!
Yeah, Jim Chamberlin! Chief designer of Canada's Avro Arrow, which still hasn't been bested in almost 60 years! Also started designing the lunar module concept while he was still in Canada with Avro, back in the late 50's. What a brilliant man.
My dad was an engineer on both Mercury and Gemini at MAC. We had one of those re-entry Rogallo wings in our garage for 25 years. Wonder if it is still there.
Hello Amy! Are you doing an episode on the strange music from Apollo 10?! I'm sure I'm not crazy, but I think I saw you featured in a video; 'Outer Space Music' from the Science Channel! (It's going viral with +1M views on UA-cam). The whole situation sounds unresolved, but I would really would like to learn more about it, what you believe it was, and why you think it was classified for 40 years.
+ragnarox16 According to NASA, those recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970's. Here's a bit from their press release: "While listed as "confidential" in 1969 at the height of the Space Race, Apollo 10 mission transcripts and audio have been publicly available since 1973. Since the Internet did not exist in the Apollo era, NASA has only recently provided digital files for some of those earlier missions. The Apollo 10 audio clips were uploaded in 2012, but the mission's audio recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970s. As for the likely source of the sounds questioned in the television program, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan told NASA on Monday, "I don't remember that incident exciting me enough to take it seriously. It was probably just radio interference. Had we thought it was something other than that we would have briefed everyone after the flight. We never gave it another thought"."
That’s really neat. I never knew what that little towel thing was on the top of the command module. I always thought it was for some kind of aerodynamic reason to help peirce the atmosphere during the launch lol
Hi Amy, love all your videos--I've seen all of them. I would love to see a video about the CSM/LM orientation/attitude during TLI and lunar coast. I find it difficult to find information on this topic. I often see simulated videos of the command module SPS firing during TLI when I thought after SIV-B separation and docking with the LM the momentum carried them to the moon until Lunar gravity took hold and the SPS engine was fired to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
I remember reading books about Mercury as a little kid, and being fascinated by the fact that it had an "escape tower". Since there was no explanation in the books about how the dumb thing worked, I remember wondering how it worked, and thinking that the astronaut got out of the ship, climbed up the "ladder" to the escape tower, got inside, shut the door, and blasted off away from the capsule in case of an emergency.
Interesting - I'd always assumed that some element of Gemini's design (shape, attachment) hadn't lent itself to an escape tower. When you say a backup parachute wouldn't help if there was a problem with a gliding landing, is that just because the Gemini might be too close to the ground to slow down that way (plus over land not water)?
Hi Amy, The rockets (Saturn 5, SLS) are/will be transported to the lauch pad by the crwler. How did/do they get the rocket off? Or did they launch rockets when this crawler was still there?
+Guus van Zuylen - The crawler brings the mobile launcher, which has the launch vehicle sitting on it, to the launch pad. Then the square mobile launcher is lifted off the crawler by four jacks at the corners. Then the crawler drives out from under mobile launcher to a parking spot located a safe distance away from the pad.
Speaking of ejection seats in spacecraft you could do an episode about how Yuri Gagarin ejected from Vostock. Contrary to common belief, he ejected and landed separately from the spacecraft.
Amy, did NASA ever actually TEST this escape seat system? I have never seen any footage of any tests using escape seats in a Gemini capsule. I do remember reading that may be because when the contractor did privately tested it, it failed miserably, mislaunching so badly it would have severly injured if not killed the astronauts so the contractor hushed up the test records and glossed over the facts claiming 10 years of ejection seats in jets gave them all the "testing" data they needed. Doesn't sound like NASAs usual way of testing the bazinga out of every component but this was back in very early days before Apollo 1, when things were a little looser. Ever come across anything on this system's testing?
I read somewhere that the LES on the Apollo capsule would not work if there was a fault in the first stage engines. They say the sensor wires were too long and the signal would trigger the abort too late in the case of a big fireball.
Good stuff Amy. I have been curious about why Gemini had ejection seats. Do you know if they would have been effective while on the pad (zero-zero) and what was the max altitude? Also nice little tidbit about Apollo's escape tower being more powerful than the Redstone.
Thank you I stand corrected, that other video made me chuckle. Love ❤️ your videos, any chance of a Space X vid in the future or if you have already done one a link to it 👍
Although there may not have been the knowledge at NASA that the Soviets were using an ejection seat for their capsule at that time, I have noticed that many of the same ideas got used in both space programs. The hypergolic propellant of the Titan was(and is) also a feature of the Russian Proton Booster. There are so many others, too.
I'm glad you called it the way we did in the 60s Gem in eeeee. Not Gem in eye. I really don't know who started calling it the Gem en eeee mission, since in the original Latin, it is pronounced "Gem in eye" as per the Wordbook app on the Iphone.
It's the acceleration. A Redstone launched at about 1.25 Gs. A Launch Escape System would launch at more like 10 Gs, trying to outrun an expanding fireball. An Apollo capsule + LES also masses a third as much as a whole Mercury-Redstone, which surprised me. So yeah, yanking that much mass at maybe 10 Gs, I believe Amy now. :)
Ejection seats have another advantage: They may also be able to help you if something goes wrong upon landing/splashdown, such as if one or more parachutes fail to open.
I had heard that there were ejection seats on the early Space Shuttles; those prior to the Challenger Disaster. Is this true? If not, why was there no emergency escape plan/equipment for the Space Shuttle?
I had forgotten about the winged landing scheme-- but it seems to me that, on the relative launch weight-- you're trading the weight of two full ejection systems for an abort tower. All that different? Plus, the escape tower was so dead simple-- more of the criticality came from the decision part. Having explosive bolts on the double hatches and the chair rails... especially after good Mr. Grissom's experiences. Hmmm. Nice vid.
A number of the engineers that worked on Gemini, including Jim Chamberlain, were Canadians who migrated south after Canada canceled the Avro CF-105 interceptor. Chamberlain was a principal designer on that project. It was a world class aircraft that put Canada on the cutting edge of aerospace technology. The CF-105 "Arrow" was canceled on the basis of cost. The termination took Canada out of the advanced aircraft field and cost them many talented people, though it was our gain. The plane's cancellation is still controversial in Canada today, 60 years on.
The Titan II didn't have enough launch capacity to launch a Gemini with an LES into orbit. The extra weight and drag would have made some kind of "augmenation" -- strap-on solid rockets or maybe a lengthened second stage -- of the Titan II necessary to get the Gemini into orbit (maybe making the Titan II-B?). Of course, the ejection seats would only have been usable for about the first 45 seconds of flight, and then again possibly in the last minute or so of descent. Once the vehicle reached about Mach 1, ejection into the airstream would likely have been fatal.
Hi Amy Great videos! How about a vlog on the number of engines in a saturn 5 rocket. I heard quotes of 97 engines! I can only come up with somewhere around 80. Maybe you can show us where they are and what they do Thanks
I struggle with the concept of ejection seats on the Gemini platform in general. On the pad, the astronauts are only a bit over 100 feet in the air. If in the event of a catastrophic failure on the pad and they aborted, they would be propelled laterally 800 feet but still remain not much higher than 100 feet in the air. Is 100 feet enough distance for the astronauts to separate from the seats and land safely by parachute without a hard face-plant into the ground? I don't know but I have my doubts. Luckily we never had to find out.
The Gemini-Titan II booster was only about 100ft tall at capsule height. Do you know what were the odds of the astronaut’s parachutes safely opening from that height if they really had to eject from a Gemini capsule strapped to the Titan II at launch pad height?
For a MOL mission, the astronauts would enter the lab through a hatch in the Gemini heat shield. How did they manage this with those huge ejection seats in the way?
You say Apollo's Launch Escape Tower is more powerful than the mercury's itself but there is an ambiguity here. Probably, you wanted to say tower's instant max thrust is bigger than Mercury, right? Power kinda means energy or many think it like that. Love your videos by the way. I learnt a lot. Thanks!
Amy, but I heard that the astronauts on Gemini 6, commanded by Tom Stafford, would have been in a very difficult (and even dangerous position) if they ejected when the Titan launch vehicle shut down prematurely. Did NASA give anymore thought to the dangers of using ejection seats again after the near disaster? Did you find out anything on your research on that flight?
The early Shuttle test flights had a crew of only two, and ejection seats were installed for them. Installing ejection seats for a full crew of seven was deemed too difficult and too expensive, plus there were doubts about whether ejection seats would actually save the crew. Once missions with larger crews began, the two ejection seats were removed because having them for two out of seven was considered "immoral".
Isn't the proposed submarine mission to Europa rather than Titan? Also she only does Retro space missions on this channel, so I don't think that such a mission us in the scope of this channel. (But I'm looking forward to the Europa submarine mission too.)
+Andrew McAuliffe No, Europa ice is too thick to drill through and fit a submerine in. Plus scientist arent sure about what's below Europa surfacccce, Liquid water or brittle ice?
I read somewhere (I think it was in Rocket Men) that the ejection seats were somewhat useless until you get a little altitude (and begin a pitch) because they'd, more or less, fire you into the ground. Supposedly, the solution was to plow up the ground around the pad to soften it up a bit. Any truth to this?
That's what I was thinking too. Not sure if ejection seats of the day where like modern ones that know which way is up and have rocket nozzles that actually turn or guide the seat straight up if it has to.
The seats could do that, right off the pad. Wally Schirra came very close to doing so, at the start of the Gemini 6 mission (1965), when the Titan engines lit up, then quickly shut down. He judged that there had been no liftoff movement, and chose not to. But his hand was on the 'D-Ring' that would have initiated the ejection for himself and Thomas Stafford. This comes from Googling Gemini launch abort, and personal memory of the event. I was an 11 year old (space geek even then), watching this live. (I still remember the shutdown having a sound like, but I'm sure wasn't, tearing metal...)
The Apollo spacecraft design began before the Gemini. But being a lot more complicated it took longer to get flying. Because the Titan II hypergolic fuels burn on contact, they could not accumulate a large explosive mass like Lox/RP1 of the Mercury and Apollo boosters could.
New episode idea ... I haven't seen anything on the flotation collar seen around the Apollo capsule after splashdown. What was it's purpose (since the capsule was air/water tight and would float anyway). Weren't the balloons for self-righting the capsule enough? Where was the collar stored if it was part of the capsule? How was it attached? And if it wasn't part of the capsule, what would happen if re-entry overshot the splashdown location by a huge distance that may have resulted in many hours delay in recovery? (Wasn't he capsule was equipped with two machetes in case the astronauts had to survive days on a desert island before being located and recovered?) Thanks.
+Dean Whiting Apollos 4, 5 and 6 did fly, they simply didn't carry crews. Apollos 4 and 6 were unmanned test flights of the Saturn V. Apollo 5 was an unmanned test flight of the first lunar module, LM-1, aboard the same Saturn IB (AS-204) that was originally intended for the ill-fated Apollo 1 launch. Apollos 2 and 3 never officially existed, but there were three unmanned test flights of Saturn IBs known as AS-201, -202 and -203.
What kind of G forces would be on the astronauts if the LES were to be used? I have also seen a video of a test of the Gemini ejection seats where it didn't go so well. The command pilot's seat came out fine but the pilot's door didn't open fast enough and the test dummy's heat crashed into the door before coming all the way out. I have tried to find this video on UA-cam but cannot find it. I must have been a small part of another video. There is a video, "Gemini Status Report #2", showing a successful test of the ejection seats if anyone might be interested.
Great video!
What I love about the Apollo escape tower is that during one of its test flights (when they tested it unmanned) the Little Joe rocket they were using actually tumbled out of control and broke apart during the ascent. The mission was basically a spectacular failure (they had wanted to test a high-altitude deployment) but the escape tower automatically deployed and performed flawlessly. So, in the midst of this failure, the actual piece of equipment they wanted to test performed its function for the first time under an actual (unplanned) abort condition (as opposed to carefully controlled conditions of previous tests) and proved that the concept was sound.
Yes, I liked that too.
I remember reading what Gemini 3 pilot John Young said about the seats ejecting, but the doors staying shut; "you'll get a hell of a headache, but a short one!!"
I had to read this twice, because at first I though he was referring to the Shuttle! The first 4 Shuttle test flights had ejector seats for the commander and pilot, and of course Young commanded the first Shuttle flight.
He said this after a failed test of the ejection system when the hatches failed to open and the seats were ejected right through the hatches, shredding the test dummies strapped into the seats.
What does that me-
Oh
+Barney Fife Just like Goose (RIP).
Barney Fife I understood that reference
The story of how the LES actually was triggered is pretty cool. You should do a video describing how the thing worked. I'm sure the viewers would like that!
I recently discovered your channel. I'm one of the lucky ones who (quite literally) grew up in front of the television set watching the entire space program from Alan Shepherd's first flight up through Skylab 4. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to relive those wonderful years through your videos. Thanks so much!
+Carl Stenger Thank you for your kind words! Happy to have another space fan around!
I watched the Gemini 6 and 7 launch when I was a kid.Im 58 and have always been a space geek. This is the only channel I subscribe to.Keep up the good work.
Wow! I actually remember following Gemini on television, and all these years, I never noticed that they lacked launch escape towers until you just mentioned it.
All of your videos are very good but this was a 3 minute gem. You managed to get a ton of design logic and NASA politics into this video! This includes a bunch of stuff I knew about the pieces but really hadn't put together on my own before, like the ejection seats and cockpit layout being legacy design from the paraglider landing concept. Ejection systems are super interesting, especially ones meant to deal with extreme conditions like those on Gemini or on the X-15. Super enlightening video.
+striatic Thanks so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it. It was a pretty fun video to do!
I am guessing the commander of a Gemini mission would carefully open the circuit breaker on that system once in orbit. Not something you'd like to do accidentally.
I'm sure safing the ejection seats is part of the procedures. It's ALWAYS good to make expodey things not explode accidentally.
Just ask Gus Grissom.
duanevp . So nice that you can find hilarity in the needless, gruesome, painful deaths of three American heroes. Fucking sack of rotting foreskins.
He almost drowned though.
The tragic being him almost drowning more or less directly caused him dying in Apollo 1...
I wouldn't bet my life that the Gemini ejection seats would've actually worked in the case of an exploding rocket. I'm glad no one had to find out. It's no accident that the system was never tested with living volunteers.
Do an episode on dogs and cats in space/zero-G, and get Pete's opinions on the topic.
+abrahamchapman I actually *just* found the second half of what I need to make that a great video, so it'll happen soon!
+Amy Shira Teitel (Vintage Space) Awesome!
Just make sure that Pete is a guest host on that episode.
Apollo LES 134000 lbs thrust pulling on a 11000 lb Apollo capsule. That would be a wild ride!
Good video Amy!
I love your VIntage Space series Amy, I was a kid when a lot of what you're talking about was happening so I was really into that at the time. I have to say though that the down side is that the vintage manned space achievements seems to be so much more interesting than anything since. Sure, now we know what happens to a person's bones after a year in space, but It's too bad that "vintage" has to be the title of what is arguably the most interesting (if not the riskiest) things we have done. I certainly hope for more good stuff to come before I check out!
Thank you for the Escape Tower info. I left you a message asking for a program on the towers themselves. Nice to hear you mention James (Jim) Chamberlin, (May 23, 1915 - March 8, 1981) a Canadian aerodynamicist who contributed to the design of the Canadian Avro Arrow, then Gemini and later Apollo. Thank you for that. and for this video Excellent as usual!
Hi Amy. Was wondering if you'd done a video on the strange sounds/music heard by the Apollo 10 astronauts when they were on the far side of the moon? I saw a video with a couple of shots of you in it talking about the declassification of the transcripts and automatically wondered if you'd done one yourself. Also, ive noticed the cuts as you go through your videos, I'd love to see a blooper reel 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Amy! It's not Gemini related and my apologies if this is covered in another of your videos as I've not watched them all yet, however I was wondering is you can answer an Apollo LEM question? Given that the LEM was very fragile, how was it able to be pressurised so that the astronauts could breathe without having to wear a pressure suit? Also, did they suit up in the LEM during flight and stay suited up, or were they able to repressurise the LEM on the suface of the Moon? Best wishes and thanks for your super-interesgting channel! Paul x
Thanks! I knew about the blast extent issue, but not that designer prejudice played a part also. Great series.
I have a suggested episode. Describe the different propellant for each of the programs and why it changed. Love the show! Thanks.
I followed the space program pretty close growing up and thought I knew a lot but Amy is showing me how much I missed. Way to go Amy.
I never noticed the lack of an escape tower. And never thought of how the astronauts would escape an exploding rocket. Thank you Amy. (BTW like the hair)
Amy, why was there always that high pitched beep at the end of communications between capcom and the crew?
+Jeremy Hall Wiki "quindar tones". Basically, tones sent through the comm net, to control it. Has nothing to do with the astronauts, as such.
The museum at the Pueblo Colorado airport has a solid fuel ring from the Apollo escape tower. Right over the display is a small sign that says “no smoking”.
Thanks for the excellant video. Love the escape tower animation. Gemini is my fave manned spacecraft (so far.)
+Amy Shira Teitel, another great video. Thanks for answering our question.
Awesome channel.....brings me back to my kid days when a space mission was such a huge deal....watching liftoff live on tv with Cronkite et. al. giving the synopsis... watching exploration of a new frontier happen right from the living room.
Loved this vid. Being a former USN Medic and having been trained a bit on ejection related injury and trauma, I'm thinking this system would be dubious at best to use once the ship was moving faster than about M3, and to my knowledge this was way before zero zero seats were available. The average American ejection seat during the 60's and 70's would put the pilot into a 12 to 14g unregulated and uncontrollable maneuver. Because of the limitations of the human body you can't just crank the rockets in the seats up to get them out faster. These seats cause lumbar compression along with a bunch of other potential injuries, even if they are used properly (proper neck, back arm and leg position are adhered to at the point of activation). During the time frame of Gemini an ejection at any speed above M3 was considered dangerous at best. And there is always the possibility of canopy contact (in this case hatch contact) which is why most jets now have det chord on the canopy. So what was the point of no return? Was there a point where the Space Craft would be moving at a greater vertical velocity than the relative horizontal velocity the ejection seat could compensate for? Or was the PONR altitude driven? Also if the failure came before the rocket left the pad could they punch out at a 90deg. attitude to horizon at 100 feet and have successful separation and parachute deployment?
Thanks again and keep the videos coming!!!!!
I believe the second stage would have ignited and propelled the spacecraft away from a first stage failing at altitude. The "holes" Amy refers to would help here (i.e. "live" staging).
I'd have to check but I think M4 and 100k ft was the rating. This design utilized the most powerful rocket-catapult(ROCAT) design at the time and zero-zero seats were pioneered in the US by Weber Aircraft on the F-102 and F-106 aircraft. Gordon Cress, my friend, worked on the only Zero-Zero test done with a live human subject (MAJ Jim Hall) in Project 90. He also worked on these seat designs.
Wow! The launch escape tower on Apollo was more powerful than the Redstone rocket?
Unbelievable! :o lol
I learned that fact from Walter Cronkite, back in the day.
Newtons, or total impulse?
Loving these videos, can you make them into playlists about topics or each rocket?
Great video. When I was a kid, I wondered what that tower on top of the Mercury and Apollo rockets was for. I asked around, but nobody knew.
As an aside, there is a scene in the Batman vs Superman movie that really gets to me, the one where Superman rescues astronauts from an exploding rocket. I suspect the people who made that movie didn't know about rocket launch escape systems, and how effective they are. Either that, or they count on people watching the movie not knowing. (Which, in all likelihood, is the case) Anyway, that scene gets to me because the astronauts likely would have been much safer had Superman left them alone and allowed the launch escape system do what it was designed to do.
Always learning more cool stuff on here!! Thank you!
Y'know, this entire Gemini thing sounds oddly Kerbal o.O
Or maybe Kerbal is based to a remarkable degree on reality...
O RLY?
And look how things are, now we got Gemini pods AND personal parachutes
Jebedi
How much room was in the Apollo command module? How did the astronauts move from their launch couches into the lunar module ?
Also how much privacy did the astronauts have in the command module for personal needs?
Great video :) Can you do a video on the evolution of the on-board computers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules please? Apparently someone re-created the Apollo Guidance Computer in his basement!
Wow. I didn't know that last bit about the Saturn escape tower being more powerful than the Redstone. That was one awesome little booster.
Thanks for answering that question.
Amy, where did you get your Saturn 5 model?? Looks great!
Probably a lego model
@@yuhi6649 Nope, that's either the Revell (ex-Monogram) or Airfix 1/144 scale kits. Both still available. Check Ebay.
Cool! I wandered what that structure was at the top of the vehicle, but never looked it up. Thanks, Amy!
Will you every come the the S.F. Bay Area to give any talks about Vintage Space or any related issues? Or even to tell about your recent book. It would be fascinating to hear your stories, especially any stories about your meeting with any of the astronauts, Original Seven or the New Nine or others? You might have a big audience here in California! I would attend!
Yeah, Jim Chamberlin! Chief designer of Canada's Avro Arrow, which still hasn't been bested in almost 60 years! Also started designing the lunar module concept while he was still in Canada with Avro, back in the late 50's. What a brilliant man.
I remember the picture on the right at the 1:27 point from a book I read in elementary school. It makes sense now. Thanks!
My dad was an engineer on both Mercury and Gemini at MAC. We had one of those re-entry Rogallo wings in our garage for 25 years. Wonder if it is still there.
Hello Amy!
Are you doing an episode on the strange music from Apollo 10?!
I'm sure I'm not crazy, but I think I saw you featured in a video; 'Outer Space Music' from the Science Channel! (It's going viral with +1M views on UA-cam).
The whole situation sounds unresolved, but I would really would like to learn more about it, what you believe it was, and why you think it was classified for 40 years.
+ragnarox16 According to NASA, those recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970's. Here's a bit from their press release:
"While listed as "confidential" in 1969 at the height of the Space Race, Apollo 10 mission transcripts and audio have been publicly available since 1973. Since the Internet did not exist in the Apollo era, NASA has only recently provided digital files for some of those earlier missions. The Apollo 10 audio clips were uploaded in 2012, but the mission's audio recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970s.
As for the likely source of the sounds questioned in the television program, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan told NASA on Monday, "I don't remember that incident exciting me enough to take it seriously. It was probably just radio interference. Had we thought it was something other than that we would have briefed everyone after the flight. We never gave it another thought"."
That’s really neat. I never knew what that little towel thing was on the top of the command module. I always thought it was for some kind of aerodynamic reason to help peirce the atmosphere during the launch lol
Hey Amy! do you ship your book worldwide? there's "Israel" on the list but just want to be sure before I purchase.
Not sure if it falls under vintage space but the Space Shuttle Abort modes, RTLS, TAL, AOA, ATO.
The only thing I like more than new technology is old technology. Thanks Vintage Space!
Hi Amy, love all your videos--I've seen all of them. I would love to see a video about the CSM/LM orientation/attitude during TLI and lunar coast. I find it difficult to find information on this topic. I often see simulated videos of the command module SPS firing during TLI when I thought after SIV-B separation and docking with the LM the momentum carried them to the moon until Lunar gravity took hold and the SPS engine was fired to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
I remember reading books about Mercury as a little kid, and being fascinated by the fact that it had an "escape tower". Since there was no explanation in the books about how the dumb thing worked, I remember wondering how it worked, and thinking that the astronaut got out of the ship, climbed up the "ladder" to the escape tower, got inside, shut the door, and blasted off away from the capsule in case of an emergency.
Interesting - I'd always assumed that some element of Gemini's design (shape, attachment) hadn't lent itself to an escape tower.
When you say a backup parachute wouldn't help if there was a problem with a gliding landing, is that just because the Gemini might be too close to the ground to slow down that way (plus over land not water)?
Hi Amy,
The rockets (Saturn 5, SLS) are/will be transported to the lauch pad by the crwler. How did/do they get the rocket off? Or did they launch rockets when this crawler was still there?
+Guus van Zuylen - The crawler brings the mobile launcher, which has the launch vehicle sitting on it, to the launch pad. Then the square mobile launcher is lifted off the crawler by four jacks at the corners. Then the crawler drives out from under mobile launcher to a parking spot located a safe distance away from the pad.
Speaking of ejection seats in spacecraft you could do an episode about how Yuri Gagarin ejected from Vostock. Contrary to common belief, he ejected and landed separately from the spacecraft.
Amy, did NASA ever actually TEST this escape seat system?
I have never seen any footage of any tests using escape seats in a Gemini capsule. I do remember reading that may be because when the contractor did privately tested it, it failed miserably, mislaunching so badly it would have severly injured if not killed the astronauts so the contractor hushed up the test records and glossed over the facts claiming 10 years of ejection seats in jets gave them all the "testing" data they needed. Doesn't sound like NASAs usual way of testing the bazinga out of every component but this was back in very early days before Apollo 1, when things were a little looser. Ever come across anything on this system's testing?
Jim Chamberlin also worked on Canada's Avro Arrow before he worked on Gemini.
I read somewhere that the LES on the Apollo capsule would not work if there was a fault in the first stage engines. They say the sensor wires were too long and the signal would trigger the abort too late in the case of a big fireball.
Good stuff Amy. I have been curious about why Gemini had ejection seats. Do you know if they would have been effective while on the pad (zero-zero) and what was the max altitude? Also nice little tidbit about Apollo's escape tower being more powerful than the Redstone.
yes they were tested successfully on a tower simulating the pad for zero-zero, and I think 100k ft
Amy - It might be a interesting video to cover the different Apollo abort modes after the escape tower was jettisoned.
Thank you I stand corrected, that other video made me chuckle. Love ❤️ your videos, any chance of a Space X vid in the future or if you have already done one a link to it 👍
Amy: Was wondering if you could find out the means that the solid rocket motors on the Space Shuttle were ignited? Was there any redundancy?
Yay!! This is a question I asked a while back!!!
Although there may not have been the knowledge at NASA that the Soviets were using an ejection seat for their capsule at that time, I have noticed that many of the same ideas got used in both space programs. The hypergolic propellant of the Titan was(and is) also a feature of the Russian Proton Booster. There are so many others, too.
I'm glad you called it the way we did in the 60s Gem in eeeee. Not Gem in eye. I really don't know who started calling it the Gem en eeee mission, since in the original Latin, it is pronounced "Gem in eye" as per the Wordbook app on the Iphone.
Hi, Amy! I really enjoy your videos :).
What type of guidance did the escape towers have if any. How did they change over time?
Saturn V's launch escape system was more powerful than an entire Redstone booster stage...
What... the fuk...
It's the acceleration. A Redstone launched at about 1.25 Gs. A Launch Escape System would launch at more like 10 Gs, trying to outrun an expanding fireball. An Apollo capsule + LES also masses a third as much as a whole Mercury-Redstone, which surprised me. So yeah, yanking that much mass at maybe 10 Gs, I believe Amy now. :)
Ejection seats have another advantage: They may also be able to help you if something goes wrong upon landing/splashdown, such as if one or more parachutes fail to open.
very interesting. btw, is that purple or pink coloring in your hair?
What Saturn V model do you have displayed in the background??
Hey Amy, Do I remember correctly and that the early Space Shuttles had Ejections Seats? Cheers, Gerardo - London England
+MyVintageVictory :STS-1 through 4 had them.
Sweet! Tnx you! :D
+MyVintageVictory :Glad I could help.
Have you made an episode that covered the testing of the escape tower for Apollo on the LIttle Joe rocket? That could make a great feature.
+John Clark I haven't, but it's a good one to add to the (massive) list!
I had heard that there were ejection seats on the early Space Shuttles; those prior to the Challenger Disaster. Is this true? If not, why was there no emergency escape plan/equipment for the Space Shuttle?
I had forgotten about the winged landing scheme-- but it seems to me that, on the relative launch weight-- you're trading the weight of two full ejection systems for an abort tower. All that different? Plus, the escape tower was so dead simple-- more of the criticality came from the decision part. Having explosive bolts on the double hatches and the chair rails... especially after good Mr. Grissom's experiences. Hmmm. Nice vid.
What happens if there's a problem just after they leave the atmosphere? An LES seems like it would be useful to a higher altitude.
Could the ejection seats be used if the main parachute failed to open after re-entry?
A number of the engineers that worked on Gemini, including Jim Chamberlain, were Canadians who migrated south after Canada canceled the Avro CF-105 interceptor. Chamberlain was a principal designer on that project. It was a world class aircraft that put Canada on the cutting edge of aerospace technology. The CF-105 "Arrow" was canceled on the basis of cost. The termination took Canada out of the advanced aircraft field and cost them many talented people, though it was our gain. The plane's cancellation is still controversial in Canada today, 60 years on.
Yesss! Thanks Amy. Been wondering this for ages. :)
The Titan II didn't have enough launch capacity to launch a Gemini with an LES into orbit. The extra weight and drag would have made some kind of "augmenation" -- strap-on solid rockets or maybe a lengthened second stage -- of the Titan II necessary to get the Gemini into orbit (maybe making the Titan II-B?).
Of course, the ejection seats would only have been usable for about the first 45 seconds of flight, and then again possibly in the last minute or so of descent. Once the vehicle reached about Mach 1, ejection into the airstream would likely have been fatal.
Hi Amy
Great videos! How about a vlog on the number of engines in a saturn 5 rocket. I heard quotes of 97 engines! I can only come up with somewhere around 80. Maybe you can show us where they are and what they do
Thanks
I struggle with the concept of ejection seats on the Gemini platform in general. On the pad, the astronauts are only a bit over 100 feet in the air. If in the event of a catastrophic failure on the pad and they aborted, they would be propelled laterally 800 feet but still remain not much higher than 100 feet in the air. Is 100 feet enough distance for the astronauts to separate from the seats and land safely by parachute without a hard face-plant into the ground? I don't know but I have my doubts. Luckily we never had to find out.
The Gemini-Titan II booster was only about 100ft tall at capsule height. Do you know what were the odds of the astronaut’s parachutes safely opening from that height if they really had to eject from a Gemini capsule strapped to the Titan II at launch pad height?
Design spec called for 100%. Unless there was a seat malfunction they had the ability
Thanks Amy, Love you channel
For a MOL mission, the astronauts would enter the lab through a hatch in the Gemini heat shield. How did they manage this with those huge ejection seats in the way?
Did you misplace the right red circle in the last part or am I just not seeing something ?
+Nathan Antaran Ah! No. It didn't stick where I wanted it to be... It's supposed to be around the base of the Redstone. I'll add a note saying so!
You say Apollo's Launch Escape Tower is more powerful than the mercury's itself but there is an ambiguity here. Probably, you wanted to say tower's instant max thrust is bigger than Mercury, right? Power kinda means energy or many think it like that.
Love your videos by the way. I learnt a lot. Thanks!
Amy, but I heard that the astronauts on Gemini 6, commanded by Tom Stafford, would have been in a very difficult (and even dangerous position) if they ejected when the Titan launch vehicle shut down prematurely. Did NASA give anymore thought to the dangers of using ejection seats again after the near disaster? Did you find out anything on your research on that flight?
Thanks, for the answer. That does make a lot of sense since Chris Kraft was never known for trying anything that wasn't "by the book."
+tightshot88 YUP!!
Can you explain why the space shuttle like genimi had ejection seats designed? And why there were only 2 ejection seats for the entire crew???
The early Shuttle test flights had a crew of only two, and ejection seats were installed for them. Installing ejection seats for a full crew of seven was deemed too difficult and too expensive, plus there were doubts about whether ejection seats would actually save the crew. Once missions with larger crews began, the two ejection seats were removed because having them for two out of seven was considered "immoral".
Great video, thanks for the info. Did they ever test the ejection seat with a man test on the pad?
what is problem in doing Nuclear Blast in space? i.e. away from lunar system.
curious did you major in physics? mathematics? engineering?
Was the Gemini spacecraft oriented in a certain direction if the astronauts ever had to eject on the launch pad?
Please do a video about the proposed submarine-rover mission to Saturn's moon, Titan? What can we do to make this mission a reality? Th a no-you!
Isn't the proposed submarine mission to Europa rather than Titan? Also she only does Retro space missions on this channel, so I don't think that such a mission us in the scope of this channel. (But I'm looking forward to the Europa submarine mission too.)
+Andrew McAuliffe No, Europa ice is too thick to drill through and fit a submerine in.
Plus scientist arent sure about what's below Europa surfacccce, Liquid water or brittle ice?
+Damminh Khoi Oops. My bad.
I read somewhere (I think it was in Rocket Men) that the ejection seats were somewhat useless until you get a little altitude (and begin a pitch) because they'd, more or less, fire you into the ground. Supposedly, the solution was to plow up the ground around the pad to soften it up a bit.
Any truth to this?
That's what I was thinking too. Not sure if ejection seats of the day where like modern ones that know which way is up and have rocket nozzles that actually turn or guide the seat straight up if it has to.
The seats could do that, right off the pad. Wally Schirra came very close to doing so, at the start of the Gemini 6 mission (1965), when the Titan engines lit up, then quickly shut down. He judged that there had been no liftoff movement, and chose not to. But his hand was on the 'D-Ring' that would have initiated the ejection for himself and Thomas Stafford.
This comes from Googling Gemini launch abort, and personal memory of the event. I was an 11 year old (space geek even then), watching this live. (I still remember the shutdown having a sound like, but I'm sure wasn't, tearing metal...)
No the seats were designed to fly nearly horizontal 800ft and could successfully recover occupants from the pad
The Apollo spacecraft design began before the Gemini. But being a lot more complicated it took longer to get flying.
Because the Titan II hypergolic fuels burn on contact, they could not accumulate a large explosive mass like Lox/RP1 of the Mercury and Apollo boosters could.
Thanks Amy🚀
New episode idea ... I haven't seen anything on the flotation collar seen around the Apollo capsule after splashdown. What was it's purpose (since the capsule was air/water tight and would float anyway). Weren't the balloons for self-righting the capsule enough? Where was the collar stored if it was part of the capsule? How was it attached? And if it wasn't part of the capsule, what would happen if re-entry overshot the splashdown location by a huge distance that may have resulted in many hours delay in recovery? (Wasn't he capsule was equipped with two machetes in case the astronauts had to survive days on a desert island before being located and recovered?) Thanks.
According to David Woods' book, "How Apollo Flew to the Moon", the Navy divers attached it after landing for added stability in case of a rogue wave.
Question for you Amy, what happened to the missing Apollo mission numbers 2-6
+Dean Whiting I did a video on the numbering ages ago: ua-cam.com/video/PPvLr9TahgY/v-deo.html (Kind of an awkward video but that's your answer!)
+Amy Shira Teitel (Vintage Space) ok will look at that thanks
+Dean Whiting Apollos 4, 5 and 6 did fly, they simply didn't carry crews. Apollos 4 and 6 were unmanned test flights of the Saturn V. Apollo 5 was an unmanned test flight of the first lunar module, LM-1, aboard the same Saturn IB (AS-204) that was originally intended for the ill-fated Apollo 1 launch. Apollos 2 and 3 never officially existed, but there were three unmanned test flights of Saturn IBs known as AS-201, -202 and -203.
+ApolloWasReal thanks for helping clear that up
Good answer!
Great stuff!
2:30 Well that's interesting... (And shows how much progress there was in solid fuel propellants.)
What kind of G forces would be on the astronauts if the LES were to be used? I have also seen a video of a test of the Gemini ejection seats where it didn't go so well. The command pilot's seat came out fine but the pilot's door didn't open fast enough and the test dummy's heat crashed into the door before coming all the way out. I have tried to find this video on UA-cam but cannot find it. I must have been a small part of another video. There is a video, "Gemini Status Report #2", showing a successful test of the ejection seats if anyone might be interested.
Cool!
Love the new hair style Amy!
Frames your face nicely.