Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight (16 page)

Neil tries on his
Gemini 8
commander’s spacesuit. It fits. (NASA)

It was only days before Christmas and when startled flight controllers questioned Stafford about the Unidentified Flying Object he had reported, his answer was calm in his casual Oklahoma monotone: “Well, it appears to me, Houston,” he began explaining as Schirra was heard in the background playing “Jingle Bells” on his harmonica, “it’s some sort of a sleigh. It’s coming down from the North Pole with a jolly old man dressed in a red suit driving a bunch of reindeer. He seems to be headed your way, Houston. Better tell all the children old Saint Nick is on his way.”

This broadcast reporter took the
Gemini 6
“Jingle Bell’s” UFO tape and did a full Christmas Eve report on all NBC networks as America enjoyed the holidays. With the rendezvous of the two spaceships, another milestone had been reached in the country’s road to the moon. But no one had docked ships in space. That little job was still out there. It now fell to Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott.

The
Gemini 8
crew took a couple of days off, and ate a little Christmas dinner before getting back to their 24-7 training.

*   *   *

The rendezvous between
Gemini 6
and 7 had not been in NASA’s original plans. Schirra and Stafford were originally to have chased down and docked with an unmanned Agena rocket. But the Agena blew up on its way to orbit, and agency officials came up with the ingenious plan to launch
Gemini 7
’s two-week mission first, and then send
Gemini 6
in pursuit.

Now the next step was up to Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott. They loved the challenge. They spent a great portion of their training hours in the docking simulator and Neil felt the simulator was a good representation of what they could expect.

“Dave and I thought of our mission as being an absolutely super flight with great objectives,” he said. “And with Dave Scott in the right seat,” he added, “I believed we wouldn’t have any trouble.”

Neil could not have been more pleased with his crewmate. He’d known Dave at Edwards, but not well. He had come to know him better in Houston and found him very likeable and good at what he did.

“Dave was diligent and he was hard working,” Neil said. “I felt confident in his ability to handle his part of the responsibilities, and another plus, I had spent much time learning about the Gemini spacecraft as backup commander for
Gemini 5
.

“The differences were those things that were simply different,” Armstrong added with a smile. They were going to rendezvous and dock with a “live” Agena rocket and Dave Scott had an extravehicular backpack in the back of the spacecraft for a longer spacewalk than Ed White made, and they had more experiments.

The
Gemini 8
crew had their training in the bank by tax day. They were confident they were ready.

Dave Scott and Neil Armstrong stand by to board
Gemini 8
as they laugh at pad leader Guenter Wendt’s latest joke. (NASA)

NINE

GEMINI EIGHT

Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott went over the seals of the
Gemini 8
’s hatches at 8:38
A.M.
eastern time March 16, 1966.

Their cramped two-seater spacecraft would be their home for the next three days so they got busy hooking themselves up to health monitors and opening communications with Mission Control while making sure everything they needed was on board. They would be sleeping in their suits in their seats. No shower; only wet towels. They double-checked to make sure they at least had their toothbrushes.

At the same moment on the nearby Atlas/Agena pad, the countdown for launching their target rocket was going well. They were told they would be able to see the Atlas/Agena lift off while back in Houston; outside Neil’s home Janet was busy circling the wagons.

An assemblage of photographers, television crews, broadcasters, newspaper writers—all sorts of media members—had gathered and were playing the waiting game. They were hopeful Janet would emerge to talk with them, tell them how she felt, what her emotions were. Were they everything from pride to fear … fear that Neil might be killed?

This wasn’t Janet Armstrong’s first rodeo. She’d waited before when Neil had flown the X-15, when he had flown crucial tests in high-speed jets. And now she was waiting again, telling herself this is what she’d signed up for. This was the role of a test pilot’s wife and she had freely chosen this role, and she would do what was expected of her.

She would stay inside their home and wait for the launch, dealing privately with her own nervousness. She and their boys Rick and Mark would watch television and listen to the NASA squawk box. The agency had installed it for her so they could hear and cheer every word between Mission Control and their husband and father.

Knowing his family was secure for his and Dave’s three-day flight without having to fight the crowds and the media at the launch site put Neil at ease. But his mom, dad, sister, brother, and other family members were another thing. They were at the moment riding a family bus along with some of Dave’s family and relatives and they were singing and very excited. They were headed to family bleachers to view the launch when suddenly they were startled.

It was 10:00
A.M.
eastern time and the Atlas/Agena rocket rose from its launchpad on what seemed to be a never-ending column of fire, and the driver quickly stopped the bus.

Cheering broke out as some leapt through the bus door. They shouted loudly, willing the
Gemini 8
’s target rocket on to success.

They watched with fingers crossed until the Atlas/Agena’s fiery contrail became only a pinpoint of light in the Florida sky.

NASA commentator Paul Haney in Mission Control reported, “When Neil Armstrong heard that the Agena had ignited and was performing well, he was told, ‘It looks like we have a live one up there for you.’

“Neil came back with, ‘Good show.’”

*   *   *

In their seats, Neil and Dave were ready. Their target for rendezvous and docking was now in an orbit 161 by 156 nautical miles, as close to a circular orbit as they could hope for with an unmanned vehicle.

Gemini 8
’s Atlas/Agena target rocket launches. (NASA)

“Beautiful, we’ll take that one,” Neil told Dave.

“You betcha,” his partner agreed.

With the Atlas/Agena launching on time their mission had a great start. Now if we can only be as precise with our launch, Neil reasoned, it would mean we could fly our mission the way we had practiced it in the simulator.

So far the wee ones were smiling and the countdown was on a track not to disappoint.

There had been only one minor problem. Some epoxy had glued shut one of Dave’s harness mechanisms and Neil had called in John Wayne and the cavalry. Astronaut Pete Conrad, his backup, and pad leader Guenter Wendt came to the white room and rubbed and cleaned the mechanism until they got the catch unglued. From then on, the countdown had been smooth sailing with the crew checking the positions of all the switches on their consoles, constantly reporting their spacecraft’s condition to Mission Control, static testing their Gemini’s thruster rockets, and assuring the flight surgeons they, too, were ready.

In their seats and ready. Dave and Neil are strapped in to fly. (NASA)

Suddenly they found themselves in a 5-minute, 54-second hold at T-minus three minutes. This delay in their countdown was to bring their orbital insertion in line with their Agena target.

They were almost there and Neil instinctively checked his harness once more as he heard the launch director say, “We are resuming the count; T-minus three minutes and counting.”

Neil lay back and locked his spurs into the bottom of his seat. He and Dave listened to launch controllers from one console to the other declaring they were “
Go!
”

“Ignition is at 40 minutes and 59 seconds past the hour,” CapCom Jim Lovell told them, and Neil felt the Titan II coming alive through subtle groans and creaks. Fluids were shifting. Pressures were increasing. Pumps were being tested. The ten-story-tall rocket beneath was making itself ready to push
Gemini 8
into orbit at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour.

“This is the launch director. We have a clearance for launch at T-minus one minute and forty-seven seconds and counting.”

Neil shot a look at Dave. He was grinning.

*   *   *

Inside the Armstrong household, family and friends stared at a television image of the rocket with
Gemini 8
, and hugged their NASA squawk box listening intently to NASA commentator Jack King in launch control:

Now coming up on T-minus 90 seconds, mark T-minus 90 seconds and counting. All systems looking good during this final phase of the countdown, and at zero, the two engines will ignite and build up some 430,000 pounds of thrust just prior to liftoff. Once the vehicle builds up 77 percent of this thrust we’ll get a go for liftoff. This will occur some four seconds after ignition.…

Now T-minus one minute and counting as we go through our final checks; T-minus 50 seconds and counting, if all goes well
Gemini 8
will be inserted into orbit some 1,015 nautical miles behind the Agena; T-minus 40 seconds and counting …

In the blockhouse the crew is reporting as they monitor the various activities over the final phase. Now T-minus 30 seconds and counting; T-minus 20 seconds and counting …

15 …

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, we have ignition.

*   *   *

No one needed to tell Neil Armstrong his rocket was alive. Flame and thunder rolled over the pad and he and Dave felt its explosive fury. Four hundred and thirty thousand pounds of thrust from its first stage was straining against its huge hold-down bolts as its two engines built to full power. Three seconds later, Neil heard rifle shots crack through the thunder and he knew the hold-down bolts had been sheared. Immediately he felt movement.

They were on their way. The only surprise? Neil couldn’t believe how smooth their liftoff was and he heard CapCom Jim Lovell tell him, “Good liftoff,
8
.”

“Roger,” Neil responded.

They were on the flight director’s audio loop and Neil immediately felt the Titan roll. He and Dave were now headed into orbit on their side and he told Houston Mission Control, “Roll program is in and pitch program is in at 30 seconds.”