119 a
“NASA’s Gemini IX-A mission was another step in developing technology for future spaceflights. But this mission included developing alternate plans when faced with the unexpected. Gemini IX-A provided NASA with crucial experience in learning how to be flexible, expanding skills in orbital rendezvous and gaining a better understanding of the challenges faced by spacewalking astronauts. The three-day mission was designed to be similar to the previous flight in March 1966. After achieving the first orbital docking, Gemini VIII was brought home early due to a failed spacecraft thruster. The Gemini IX crew hoped to gain further experience in rendezvous, docking and working outside the capsule.
The original Gemini IX Command Pilot was scheduled to be Elliot See, with Charles Bassett as Pilot. They were both killed on Feb. 28, 1966, when their T-38 jet crashed into the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, where assembly of their spacecraft was being completed. The backup crew of Tom Stafford as Command Pilot and Eugene Cernan as Pilot then were named for the upcoming flight” (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-ix-crew-found-angry-alligator-in-earth-orbit).


119 b
US Air Force AMU-specialist Ed Givens is suiting up for a test of the Gemini IX Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU) in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory vacuum chamber at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.

“The AMU was a backpack mounted on the rear of the Gemini capsule adapter section. It had a form-fitting seat, a 45 meter nylon tether, and self-contained life support, communications, telemetry, propulsion, and manual and automatic stabilization systems. The propulsion system consisted of 12 small thrusters mounted on the corners of the pack using a hydrogen peroxide fuel supply and thruster controls on two sidearm supports. The backpack could be accessed by a spacewalking astronaut who would move to the back of the craft, put on the backpack, and disconnect the spaceship tether and oxygen supply before using the AMU” (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-047A).

Cernan couldn’t use the AMU during his difficult EVA and maneuvering units were not tested in space until February 1984, when a modified version called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) was flown by Bruce McCandless on Space Shuttle mission STS-41-B.

119 c
Assisted by Donald Slayton, Cernan checks the mobility of his extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit during suiting up procedures before the aborted launch of May 17, 1966.
Plans for the mission call for performing a complex spacewalk using a self-contained rocket backpack, called the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). The Gemini spacesuit, AMU backpack, and the Extravehicular Life Support System (ELSS) chest pack comprises the AMU, a system which is essentially a miniature manned spacecraft.
The spacesuit legs are covered with Chromel R, which is a cloth woven from stainless steel fibers, used to protect the suit and astronaut from the hot exhaust thrust of the AMU backpack.

119 d
Stafford and Cernan leaving suiting-up trailer to board the transfer van that will take them to Pad 19, May 17, 1966 (first photograph).

Fish eye view of the astronauts before insertion in the Germini IX-A spacecraft in the White Room at Launch Complex 19, June 1, 1966 (second photograph).

“Gemini IX’s Agena target vehicle was launched by an Atlas rocket on May 17, 1966. Stafford and Cernan were already aboard their spacecraft poised to lift off 90 minutes later as the Agena completed its first orbit. However, the Agena failed to reach orbit. Launch of Gemini IX would have to wait. While the next Agena would not be available until summer, NASA had a backup rendezvous target available, called an Augmented Target Docking Adapter, or ATDA. Additionally, the mission was redesigned Gemini IX-A.
‘We had a flexible flight plan allowing us to shift around items and that’s exactly what happened,’ said Stafford. The contingency target vehicle was developed after an Agena failed to reach orbit for the original Gemini VI mission. This spacecraft would allow Gemini flights to continue without delaying the goal of landing on the Moon before the end of the decade of the 1960s. The ATDA used a Gemini spacecraft re-entry control section and other already proven equipment. Like the Agena, it was launched atop an Atlas rocket on June 1, 1966, and successfully reached an orbit 161 miles above the Earth. However, telemetry soon indicated more unexpected news. The conical nose cone shroud at the top of the ATDA appeared not to have separated. If that was the case, docking would be impossible as the shroud covered the target vehicle’s docking collar.After another two-day delay, Stafford and Cernan were launched on June 3, and they would soon learn the condition of the shroud” (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-ix-crew-found-angry-alligator-in-earth-orbit).

119 e
Thomas Stafford, Gemini IX-A prime crew Command Pilot, undergoes suiting up operations for the third time (after two aborted launches) in the Launch Complex 16 suit trailer during the prelaunch countdown. Later he and Eugene Cernan, prime crew Pilot, entered a transport van which carried them to Pad 19 and their waiting spacecraft.

“Stafford later said, ‘Frank (Borman) and Jim (Lovell) may have more flight time, but nobody had more pad time in Gemini than I did!’ By the time Gemini IX-A lifted off, he had been in the two spacecraft (VI-A and IX-A) ready for launch a total of six times” (Hacker and Alexander, On the Shoulders of Titans, NASA SP-4203, 1977).

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After two aborted launchs, the Gemini IX-A spacecraft carrying astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 19 at 8:39 a.m. (EST), June 3, 1966.

Capcom (Mission Control): T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. IGNITION.
000:00:01 Capcom: LIFT-OFF!
000:00:02 Stafford: We’re on the way! Clock is started.
000:00:08 Cernan: Beautiful, Tom! We’re going!
000:00:10 Stafford: Yes.
000:00:16 Cernan: Cabin is starting to seal.
000:00:18 Stafford: Roll Program initiated on time. [...]
000:00:26 Stafford: Pitch Program initiate. [..]
000:00:33 Cernan: Looks real good here, Tom.
000:00:40 Cernan: Boy, we’re really moving out now!