Last Checks For Gemini X

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 11

Last Checks For Gemini X

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter —Copyright; CAPE KENNEDY, July 17. A series of pre-flight checks clicked off smoothly yesterday for Gemini X, but a line of squalls moving through the Caribbean still clouded the horizon slightly for tomorrow’s launching.

The astronauts, John Young and Michael Collins, have been pronounced ready for the three-day adventure. During the mission, the ■astronauts plan to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target rocket launched shortly before Gemini X. They will then use the Agena’s engine to propel Gemini X into a rendezvous with

another Agena, the one orbited last March and used as a target for Gemini VIII. Collins will open his hatch three times during the flight, the first time that men have been directly exposed more than once to the hazards of space. During the initial hatchopening he will stand on his seat, poking the upper part of his body into space, and take colour motion pictures of celestial phenomena. The next time he will take a 55-minute space walk, and the last time will be used to discard equipment used on the walk.