NEW GEMINI FLIGHT READY

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30764, 31 May 1965, Page 13

NEW GEMINI FLIGHT READY

(N Z P.A.-Reuter— Copyright) CAPE KENNEDY, May 30. The astronauts, . James McDivitt and Edward White, last night were given the green light for America’s most ambitious space flight—a “space swim” and a rendezvous with a rocket in orbit. Doubts whether the flight, in a two-man Gemini spaceship, could begin on schedule next Thursday were dismissed after a 10-hour full dress rehearsal. Before the rehearsal—a simulated flight test in which world-wide tracking stations and the ground control

centres took part—the spacecraft was lifted from the 90ft Titan II rocket which will send it aloft so that a faulty battery could be replaced. The test was pronounced “very clean," by Mr Christopher C. Kraft, director of the Gemini mission, who announced: “The Gemini remains on schedule for June 3." Space Lead The United States hopes to recapture the space lead from Russia with its new venture. If all goes well, White, the co-pilot, will match the feat of the Soviet cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov, by taking a “swim” in space. He will then use a gaspropellant space gun to steer himself near the spent secondstage of the Titan 11 rocket orbiting nearby, achieving the first man-to-satellite rendezvous. Later, when the rocket

shell has drifted 16 miles away, the astronauts will guide their craft to within 20ft of the rocket, making history with the first known rendezvous between orbiting objects. Perfection of this rendezvous technique is essential for future flights to the moon. McDivitt and White are due to orbit the earth for four days, a record for a two-man venture. Cable Break A break in an underwater cable which threatened to delay the space shot, is expected to be mended tomorrow. A repair ship has been sent out to the cable, 3600 ft deep in the South Atlantic near San Salvador in the Bahamas. The break was discovered on Friday by officials of the United States Air Force and Pan American World Airways, which maintains the underwater cable network.

The broken cable is part of an underwater system which handles critical early-launch tracking data on Gemini shots. Officials of the United States Underseas Cable Corporation said they could have it repaired. by Monday. “Imp” Launching Yesterday, a “flying physics laboratory” named Imp was rocketed into space by the United States to gather radiation information for future manned moon flights. Scientists reported that all was well with the 1281 b satellite launched by a three-stage Delta rocket, which is zooming on a course which takes it halfway to the moon and back. Earlier scientists feared the I satellite might not have sep--1 arated from the rocket’s third I stage but from tracking sta- . tions around the world, scien- ■ tists were able to confirm the success of the project.