U.S. Astronauts Set Altitude Record

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 13

U.S. Astronauts Set Altitude Record

(N Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) CAPE KENNEDY, July 19. The astronauts, John W. Young and Michael Collins, aboard Gemini X, today fired the powerful main engine of their Agena X target, linked up to their spacecraft almost two hours earlier, to streak towards heights never before reached by man.

The docking of Gemini X with the Agena target rocket was the second linkup in space history. Restarting the 16,0001 b thrust Agena engine—the most dangerous single step in their three-day mission—sent them up to 474 miles above the earth, close to the lethal Van Allen radiation belts. They thus broke the Russian record of 310 miles and set a world altitude record.

An unexplained excessive use of manoeuvring fuel to achieve the rendezvous with Agena has curtailed the scientific aspects of the mission. More Fuel Used Twice as much fuel as planned was used and puzzled mission controllers said some scientific experiments would have to be curtailed but other major manoeuvres were apparently still possible. Young told mission control he was surprised that he had used so much fuel. Instead of having 6801 b left after rendezvous, he had only 350 lb. The engine was fired at 5.59 p.m. New Zealand time today and. turned off after a few seconds when it had started Gemini X on its way up. Another Rendezvous The egg-shaped orbit will put Gemini X in position to rendezvous with a second Agena target, launched four months ago for Gemini VIII, but now lifeless as it drifts around the world at an alti-

tude of 246 miles. This rendezvous will come at the end of the second day of the mission. Shortly after docking, Young fired his own thrusters to see how rigid a connexion Gemini X had with the Agena rocket. This manoeuvre, known as a “bending test,” put a severe stress on the linking mechanism which was carefully measured. Then they prepared to fire the Agena’s powerful engine in one of the most critical—and potentially dangerous—objectives of the mission.