Gemini
When NASA decided to use the Gemini Program to fill
the gap between Mercury and Apollo, they had to decide on a new design
because the one-man Mercury capsule was
not sufficient for the tasks the spacecraft had to perform. Several
strange, new designs were proposed, but they were quickly eliminat-
ed. When the final design was settled on it looked like a two-man
version of the Mercury capsule. The only main differences were the removal
of the escape tower, and the addition of the adapter
section.
With the addition of new doors that could open and
close again, the Gemini astronauts could leave the spacecraft and do EVA's.
This helped a lot, because EVA's were important in the moon missions.
Another important task was rendezvous and docking.
The Gemini capsules were outfitted with better radar than the Mercury capsules.
On six of the capsules the front had a special port so they could dock
with an unmanned Agena Target Vehicle.
The Gemini capsule was boosted atop a modified Titan
II ICBM. The Gemini Program flew the Gemini spacecraft twelve
times, two of them being unmanned tests. The Air Force reused the
Gemini 2 capsule in testing out their
MOL space station.
It was the first spacecraft to fly twice.
Much of the technology used in the Gemini spacecraft
was later used in the Apollo spacecraft,
which took men to the moon.