Project Gemini

Project Gemini was NASA's second human spaceflight program, flown between the Mercury and Apollo programs. Its ten crewed missions carried two astronauts each and tested what was needed for a lunar landing: long-duration flight, rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft, and work outside the capsule. Gemini 4 saw Ed White perform the first American spacewalk, Gemini 7 stayed in orbit for about two weeks, and Gemini 8 achieved the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, although a thruster malfunction forced an early return. Later flights refined docking and extravehicular techniques, ending with Gemini 12 and Buzz Aldrin's successful spacewalks. The capsules were launched on Titan II rockets, and the program gave NASA the experience needed for Apollo.

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