64 a
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom checking out their spacesuits at Launch Complex 16

Gemini III, March 1965

Two vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ captions numbered “65-H-378” and “65-H-379” on the versos

64 b
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

John Young and Gus Grissom, the first two-man crew of the space program, posing in front of Launch Pad 19 at Cape Kennedy

Gemini III, September 1964

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “64- H-2324” on the verso

64 c
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Molly Brown, the first manned spacecraft of the Gemini program

Gemini III, February 1965

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “65- H-127” on the verso

64 d
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Mission Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center during flight simulations

Gemini III, March 1965

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 21 x 25.6cm (8 x 10in), with RCA Quality Control stamp and NASA KSC caption numbered “65-H-413” on the verso
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

64 a
“Gemini III was the first crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft of the Gemini series. It was piloted by astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young, with the primary objective of demonstrating the crewed qualifications of the Gemini spacecraft including evaluation of the two-man Gemini design, the worldwide tracking network, the orbit attitude and maneuver system (OAMS), the control of reentry flight path and landing point, spacecraft systems, and spacecraft recovery. Secondary objectives included evaluation of flight crew equipment and effects of low level launch vehicle oscillations (POGO) on the crew, performance of three experiments, and to obtain photographic coverage from orbit” (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-024A).

64 b
[NASA caption] National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts John W. Young (left), co-pilot, and Virgil I. Grissom, pilot, stand suited with the gantry of Pad 19 in the background, where early in 1965 they will fly the first manned Gemini orbital mission.

64 c
The Gemini III spacecraft is shown in its final configuration during a communication test at Cape Kennedy.

Gus Grissom, hoping to avoid duplication of the experience with his Mercury flight Liberty Bell 7 in which the capsule sank after splashdown, named the Gemini III spacecraft Molly Brown, in a playful reference to the Broadway musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown. NASA management did not like this name, and asked him to change it. Grissom replied, “How about the Titanic?”. The managers relented and allowed Grissom to keep Molly Brown, but this was the last Gemini flight they allowed the astronauts to name.

64 d
The flight controllers are shown at their consoles. In the background is the animated display map of the Gemini III orbital track as seen from the viewing room at the rear of the Control Center.

Gemini III was the last mission monitored from Cape Kennedy’s Mission Control Center. After liftoff, the following Gemini and Apollo space flights were monitored from Houston’s Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center.