- Date
- 21–29 August 1965
- Mission
- Gemini 5
#NASA#Gemini#Space Race#dlouhodobý let
Gemini 5 was NASA’s third crewed Gemini flight. Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad spent almost eight days in orbit, doubling the previous American endurance record while testing rendezvous procedures and the fuel-cell systems needed for longer missions.
Crew
Mission timeline
Select a phase to read what happened. Every chapter has its own detailed page.
Launch and the eight-day challenge
Gemini 5 launched from Launch Complex 19 on a Titan II GLV, carrying Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad toward the first American mission planned to last eight days.
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The rendezvous pod and a warning light
Gemini 5 released a rendezvous evaluation pod, a small instrument package that simulated the radar and navigation problem of approaching another spacecraft.
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Eight days in orbit
With the power-system warning under control, Cooper and Conrad continued the long-duration programme, alternating sleep, experiments, photography and spacecraft checks.
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Splashdown and a new endurance record
After nearly eight days in orbit, Gemini 5 fired its retrorockets and returned to the Atlantic Ocean, where recovery forces quickly reached the spacecraft.
Read the chapterFacts
- Gemini 5 lasted 7 days, 22 hours, 55 minutes and 14 seconds.
- The flight doubled the American space-endurance record set by Gemini 4.
- A rendezvous evaluation pod simulated the navigation problem of approaching another spacecraft.
- A low oxygen-tank pressure forced the crew to conserve power and temporarily end the rendezvous exercise.
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Sources & further reading
- NASA: mission overview, objectives, crew and duration of Gemini V.
- NASA History: rendezvous evaluation pod, power problem and the mission’s long-duration record.
- NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog: Gemini 5 spacecraft and mission record.
- NASA Image and Video Library: Gemini 5 mission photographs, public domain.
Spaceflightpedia. (n.d.). Gemini 5. Retrieved 9 October 2026, from https://spaceflightpedia.com/article/gemini-5
article text — CC-BY-SA · ◉ NASA photography — public domain · ✦ AI illustration — marked, generated from sources
