Gemini 9 Letter and Drawing

This collection consists of a two-page letter from Deane Davis, Centaur Program Manager for General Dynamics Convair Division, in which Davis describes a conversation he had with Thomas Patten "Tom" Stafford prior to the Gemini 9 flight about how Stafford planned to accomplish rendezvous with the target vehicle. Enclosed with the letter is a drawing made by Stafford during that conversation.

The Gemini 9-A crew, Thomas Patten "Tom" Stafford and Eugene Cernan, were launched from Cape Kennedy on June 3, 1966. After the loss of the original Agena target vehicle during launch on May 17, the substitute vehicle, the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA), was launched on June 1. Because the shroud failed to deploy properly, no docking could be performed, but the crew successfully performed three different types of rendezvous. Gene Cernan executed the second extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "space walk" of the Gemini program, but severely overheated due to an overambitious plan and lack of experience with EVAs. After 45 orbits, Stafford and Cernan splashed down on June 6, just 0.7 km from the target. Deane Davis, Centaur Program Manager for General Dynamics Convair Division, was a family friend of the donor, Kenneth Parent. Parent wrote a letter to Davis asking about his work on the space program and the letter in this collection is Davis' reply.