Plans for NASA’s Gemini Program, which bridged the gap between the Mercury and Apollo programs, began in 1962. Ten crews flew missions on the two-man Gemini spacecraft between 1965 and 1966. Key objectives included: developing a spacecraft system for Earth-orbital flights of up to 14 days, determining a human’s ability to function during these extended missions, and demonstrating rendezvous and docking with a target vehicle. The crew module provided for two astronauts (hence the name Gemini, the constellation of the “twins”). The Gemini program was a resounding success. It demonstrated that humans could fly reliably for periods of up to two weeks in the hostile environment of space and to perform useful work in microgravity. The program also revealed that by the end of the Gemini missions, the technological depth of the American program had overtaken the Soviet space program.

This full-size Gemini re-entry capsule model came to Griffin MSI originally as a loan from the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in 1965. Initially, the capsule was part of a larger McDonnell Douglas space exhibit at the museum that was set to open in December of that year. The opening was intentionally timed to coincide with the same day as when the Gemini VI and Gemini VII were scheduled to rendezvous while both were in orbit around Earth. The model also came with two suited astronaut mannequins, one seated in the capsule and the other seemingly walking in space. This was intended to duplicate the first American spacewalk on June 3, 1965 by astronaut Ed White during the Gemini IV mission. McDonnell Aircraft Corp. decided to donate it to the museum in 1974 after which it was relocated to the NASA space exhibit hall in the east pavilion. In 1986, the Gemini model was moved to the Henry Crown Space Center.