gemini in south australia

[ian walker]

i remember as a small child visiting whyalla airport in south australia,
with my dad, to see a gemini spacecraft on a promo tour... i was around 6 or
7 so that puts the time around '66-69. is there anywhere i could find out
more details of this spacecraft and the tour it was on?

[Colin Burgess]

Colin Burgess wrote:

Can't say I can recall this happening, and if so, it didn't come to Sydney.
As an avid space fan back then I certainly wouldn't have missed this for the
world. I do remember lining up to see the "Friendship 7" spacecraft on a
whistle-stop tour around Australia. It was the genuine article, but I also
remember going into Sydney to see what was allegedly another Mercury
spacecraft together with hundreds of other people, only to see a full-scale
model, complete with escape tower! I was angry enough (I was only about 16)
to seek out one of the promo people who, very patronisingly, told me it was
a real Mercury spacecraft that had been into space. When I asked why the
phony escape tower was still attached, and there were no signs of re-entry,
he said :"They painted it before it came over from America!" I'm wondering
if you might have fallen victim to this same bit of nonsense.

ian walker wrote in message <3787e...@pink.one.net.au>...

[Andrew Burke]

Here in Auckland at the museum of transport and technology there was a
Gemini spacecraft on display in the mid seventies. I believe it was Gemini
10. The right-hand hatch had been removed so you could see inside. The
whole thing was covered in shaped pieces of clear plastic but I could just
squeeze my hand in by the heat shield and touch a piece of history. It
looked so tiny without the adapter sections and the nose. Next to it was an
incredible model of the whole spacecraft, about four feet long, that was
detailed right down to the lowliest switch.
Inside a glass cabinet was a space suit that belonged to Buzz Aldrin. I
think it was from Gemini 12. It was pretty scruffy so I imagine it was one
of his training suits. I always thought that one day I would go back and
properly photograph everything but in 1985 or so, New Zealand declared
itself nuclear free and banned visits by US military ships and planes and
within days US Information Agency (I think that was the department) swooped
in and took back all the artifacts.
What's the saying? You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
-
Andrew Burke
kai...@wave.co.nz
andre...@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/3160/start.htm

Colin Burgess <cbur...@chilli.net.au> wrote in article
<93168759...@smaug.dragon.net.au>...

[Ken Offer]

Andrew Burke wrote:

> I always thought that one day I would go back and
> properly photograph everything but in 1985 or so, New Zealand declared
> itself nuclear free and banned visits by US military ships and planes and
> within days US Information Agency (I think that was the department) swooped
> in and took back all the artifacts.
> What's the saying? You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?

Well, if you ever get a chance to visit our country, try the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. They have a Gemini on display at
"human-level". You can get right up next to it and look inside. I'm
not sure which one it was, though.

And if you are into calisthenics, you can visit Johnson Space Center and
peer into the dark about 3 to 4 meters up to see a Gemini hanging upside
down with lighted interior. Its a great workout for your neck! 8-)

[Jeff Cook]

Ken Offer wrote:
> Well, if you ever get a chance to visit our country, try the Kennedy
> Space Center in Florida. They have a Gemini on display at
> "human-level". You can get right up next to it and look inside. I'm
> not sure which one it was, though.

I'm near the Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt,
MD near Washington, DC. They have the Gemini 12 capsule (Lovell &
Aldrin) sitting right at your feet. If it wasn't for the clear
plexiglass shell (fitting perfectly the shape of the entire
capsule)...if it wasn't for the shell, you could just get in yourself.
Unfortunately, it's not labelled well, so people go sit in the mockup
next to it, never recognizing the jewel at their feet. Hey, no long
lines, anyway!

I was going to post a URL explaining the capsule (there's also an
excellent moon rock there, also easily overlooked), but there doesn't
seem to be one. Here's the Visitor Center homepage:
http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/vc/vc.htm

--
Jeff Cook
jc...@his.com
http://www.cookstudios.com
Washington DC area

[Ron Noteborn]

Now we are talking about KSC, when I was there last summer we drove around
on the Courtenay Parkway and we saw a kind of airplane/rocket junk yard....
there was a complete Atlas rocket, though it looked like the ICBM
version... don't think it was a space launcher. The junk yard is right on
the other side of 6116 North Courtenay Parkway, where the space t-shirt
company Pike Products is located. They did not know who it was that had
this junk yard..."There is nobody ever", they said. Anybody an idea what
that field is over there, if anybody has seen it?

Ron Noteborn

[om]

On Sun, 11 Jul 1999 23:49:47 -0400, Jeff Cook <jc...@his.com> wrote:
>Ken Offer wrote:
>> Well, if you ever get a chance to visit our country, try the Kennedy
>> Space Center in Florida. They have a Gemini on display at
>> "human-level". You can get right up next to it and look inside. I'm
>> not sure which one it was, though.
>
>I'm near the Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt,
>MD near Washington, DC. They have the Gemini 12 capsule (Lovell &
>Aldrin) sitting right at your feet. If it wasn't for the clear
>plexiglass shell (fitting perfectly the shape of the entire
>capsule)...if it wasn't for the shell, you could just get in yourself.

....Space Center Houston has both of Gordo's capsules - I jokingly
referred to the display on a home tape as "Gordo's Used Capsule
Showroom!" - although neither are within reach. MA-9 is at eye level
to a point, but it's easily within touching reach unless you REALLY
stretch past a display shelf. GT-5 is suspended about eight feet
overhead, and both craft are internally lit with some really awful
looking yellow lights that just aren't apropos for the cockpits.

....Oh, and the Apollo 17 capsule is also on display. You can touch
part of it - specifically, the hatch - but unless you really stretch
things you can't reach anything else. Not that it stopped me from
reaching one meteorite impact point :-P

OM

[Richard Glueck]

They did not know who it was that had
: this junk yard..."There is nobody ever", they said. Anybody an idea what
: that field is over there, if anybody has seen it?

Several times. The junk yard also holds cowling from a Saturn V and a
mockup of the promised space-plane. When I was there the yard also held
three or four Atlas launchers, and possibly an old Redstone body. I have
never seen it occupied or been able to find out who owns it.

Dick

[Jeff Clark]

That junkyard off SR 3 on Merritt Island, and another on the mainland
between Cocoa and Titusville on US 1 were discussed briefly on the Space
Modeling mailing list a few months ago. The ultimate answer to the
question "Who owns the stuff and what's happening with it?" came from
this
message: (note I tried to spam-proof their addresses by removing the
periods
from the domain section)

From: Stewart_Bailey@jackson cc mi us (Stewart Bailey)
Reply-To: space-modelers@egroups com
To: Robert_Blaske@petcosouth com
Cc: space-modelers@egroups com
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 10:23:18 -0400
Subject: [space-modelers] Re: KSC visit.

Robert_Blaske@petcosouth com writes:
>I've seen one or both of these junkyards while driving by and wondered about
>taking a look inside. Do you know if special (or written) permission is
>needed? I read in the book "Chariots for Apollo" (the one about the LM
>development not the other book by the same title) that there is one of the
>LM mockups in a junkyard and they showed a photo of it. It looked like a
>Florida location to me. It'd be kind of neat to get photos of it.
>
>Anyone else know about this?
>-Robert B.
>
Robert-

The "junk" belongs to an excentric by the name of Charlie Bell, and all
I
can say is what's happening to the stuff he has is a crying shame. In
the
fall of 1997, while down for the STS-86 launch, Glen Swanson and I had
the
opportunity to visit both of the yards in Florida. (I understand he
has
one in Georgia as well.) We got in only because we happen to be walking
up while Charlie's handyman was there feeding the guard dogs. The handy
man let us in and showed us around. All I can say is that the sites are
filled with incredible things, rotting into trash. (Just for an
example,
on the mainland site, he had half a dozen semi-trailers filled with
rocket
engines like HL-10s, etc. Elsewhere on site is a tri-pack engine for
the
Navajo missile.)

Apparently, Bell an engineer at the Cape who has, over the years, had
many
money making schemes; all relating to the buying and selling of scrap.
(Not just space stuff, but for things like blueprint paper, which is now
18 years out of date...) He has gathered up tons of junk, but is
unwilling to part with any of it. When I talked with him on the phone
about getting a shuttle hold-down for display here at the Michigan Space
&
Science Center, he rambled on for over an hour, going between thinking
about giving it to me, selling it to me and in the end, not being able
to
part with it (even though he has about 20) because he wants to build a
space museum.
>
>
When I talked with Charlie in the fall of 1997, he was seriously ill and
did not make it out to the yards much any more. The handyman did tell
me
that Charlie had reached the point where, financially, he was in bad
shape
and needed to sell some of the stuff. I read in Air & Space that the
SST
mock-up that was sitting in the yard on Merrit Island had been acquirred
by a museum for restoration, so maybe he has started the process of
selling some things off. Maybe, he died and has family is selling it
off.
I haven't had any contact with him since October '97, so I really don't
know much more.

So, to summarize, it is (or at least was) difficult to gain access to
the
yards, and it's only by a stroke of luck that Glen and I got in. If you
can catch up with Larry the handyman....

Stewart

[Jeff Cook]

11 Jul 1999 23:49:47 -0400, Jeff Cook <jc...@his.com> wrote:
> >I'm near the Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt,
> >MD near Washington, DC. They have the Gemini 12 capsule (Lovell &
> >Aldrin) sitting right at your feet. If it wasn't for the clear
> >plexiglass shell (fitting perfectly the shape of the entire
> >capsule)...if it wasn't for the shell, you could just get in yourself.

I wanted to clarify that the hatch on this Gemini 12 capsule is removed,
letting you press your nose right up to the plexiglass to peer into the
capsule. It is VERY cool inside. As soon as I get my scanner online
again (dang scsi card don't work with Win98!), I'll post a photo or two.

[Tom]

Go by the County Clerk's office and do a Title Lookup on the property.
Any Realtor can help you to do this.

[Jeff Clark]

Jeff Schultz wrote:
> : Dick
>
> Does this meen you can go over there and look, and you won't get
> arrested.. I.E. Is it on KSC property, or not? If not that sounds
> pretty cool.

Well, there's a tall chain-link fence around the property with barbed
wire on top. That tells me not to hop the fence. But I have walked
along the fence line outside a few times and I've never seen
anyone complain. It's private property, not NASA's.

Jeff Clark

[Anonymous]

The "collection" is on private property, but you can easily see it
from the road.

On Tue, 13 Jul 1999 18:04:51 GMT, Jeff Schultz <ch...@shell.en.com>
wrote:

>: Dick
>
>
>Does this meen you can go over there and look, and you won't get
>arrested.. I.E. Is it on KSC property, or not? If not that sounds pretty
>cool.
>
>

--------== Posted Anonymously via Newsfeeds.Com ==-------
Featuring the worlds only Anonymous Usenet Server
-----------== http://www.newsfeeds.com ==----------

[Anonymous]

A couple of additional comments-

In the past, NASA has purchased equipment (for example, valves) back
from Charlie Bell's "collection" to use as replacements for equipment
that is no longer manufactured.

A few years ago, Charlie Bell and company restored several spacecraft
on the U.S. 1 property and sold them to a private group that was going
to put them on public display somewhere in the Caribbean (I think it
was Puerto Rico). I haven't seen any activity at either storage site
since then.

On Tue, 13 Jul 1999 00:13:28 -0400, Jeff Clark <jhc...@bellsouth.net>
wrote:

>Richard Glueck wrote:
>> They did not know who it was that had
>> : this junk yard..."There is nobody ever", they said. Anybody an idea what
>> : that field is over there, if anybody has seen it?
>>
>> Several times. The junk yard also holds cowling from a Saturn V and a
>> mockup of the promised space-plane. When I was there the yard also held
>> three or four Atlas launchers, and possibly an old Redstone body. I have
>> never seen it occupied or been able to find out who owns it.
>>
>> Dick
>

[edfa...@gmail.com]

I remember that gemini capsule. I saw it at whyalla airport as a kid in the 60s.
Ed Farrell

[robertpa...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 9:20:55 AM UTC+10, edfa...@gmail.com wrote:
> I remember that gemini capsule. I saw it at whyalla airport as a kid in the 60s.
> Ed Farrell

I made enquiries at the Johnson Space Centre when I visited in May 2018. Apparently it was the Gemini 10 capsule that I saw as a young boy at the Brisbane showground Pavillion in the 60's and it was the real deal.

[m.d....@gmail.com]

On Sunday, 11 July 1999 17:00:00 UTC+10, ian walker wrote:
> i remember as a small child visiting whyalla airport in south australia,
> with my dad, to see a gemini spacecraft on a promo tour... i was around 6 or
> 7 so that puts the time around '66-69. is there anywhere i could find out
> more details of this spacecraft and the tour it was on?

It's a long time since you posted this but I was doing a search as I remember a Gemini capsule in a display that came to my town in the early 70's. It was very much as Andrew Burke from Auckland described. I would have been 8 or 9 at the time so wasn't all up to the history other than the Apollo landings. Gemini stuck in my mind ever since. I am interested in finding more info about it, so according to posts here it was Aldrin's suit. I recall someone pointed out a mannequin in a space suit in the left seat.

Are you still following this and did you find out any other information?

Cheers

[m.d....@gmail.com]

On Sunday, 11 July 1999 17:00:00 UTC+10, Andrew Burke wrote:
> Here in Auckland at the museum of transport and technology there was a
> Gemini spacecraft on display in the mid seventies. I believe it was Gemini
> 10. The right-hand hatch had been removed so you could see inside. The
> whole thing was covered in shaped pieces of clear plastic but I could just
> squeeze my hand in by the heat shield and touch a piece of history. It
> looked so tiny without the adapter sections and the nose. Next to it was an
> incredible model of the whole spacecraft, about four feet long, that was
> detailed right down to the lowliest switch.
> Inside a glass cabinet was a space suit that belonged to Buzz Aldrin. I
> think it was from Gemini 12. It was pretty scruffy so I imagine it was one

> of his training suits. I always thought that one day I would go back and

> properly photograph everything but in 1985 or so, New Zealand declared
> itself nuclear free and banned visits by US military ships and planes and
> within days US Information Agency (I think that was the department) swooped
> in and took back all the artifacts.
> What's the saying? You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?

> > >i remember as a small child visiting whyalla airport in south australia,
> > >with my dad, to see a gemini spacecraft on a promo tour... i was around
> 6
> > or
> > >7 so that puts the time around '66-69. is there anywhere i could find
> out
> > >more details of this spacecraft and the tour it was on?
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >

I remember a display in a truck that came to my town in the early 70's that matched what you discribed. This is in Australia so it may have been on a world tour.
I am just looking for some info on it now, I know the original posts are way old now but I was wondering if you had found anything else out since.
Do you recall a mannequin in a space suit in the left seat? I recall it diffucult to see from the open right hatch at the angle it was mounted.

If you are still following I'd be happy to hear some more.

Cheers
MDD

[m.d....@gmail.com]

I remember seeing what has been described but in the early 70's, do you remember what year as I am wonering if it was the same one?

Cheers
MDD

[yapy...@gmail.com]

About 1973 a Gemini space capsule visited my hometown in Moree Northern New South Wales I was five or six years old.
Been looking for information on this spacecraft myself for a long time haven't been able to find anything on the internet or newspaper archives
it would be great to find more information about it

[yapy...@gmail.com]

PS
ok I just found these two articles mentioning Gemini 12 in Australia, I think we're getting somewhere now... . .


https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224503177?searchTerm=Gemini%20space%20capsule%20in%20Australia%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits=
.
.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101758064?searchTerm=Gemini%20space%20capsule%20in%20Australia%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits=

[dbenedi...@gmail.com]

You are correct NASA sent a fitted out semi-trailer that travelled around most Australian cities in the late 1968-9 as a thank you for Australia’s assistance with Gemini-Apollo missions and for our part in the operation of the Deep Space Tracking Network located in Parks N.S.W.
The trailer contained one of the launched man Gemini capsules along with a space suit worn by the Gemini Astronauts plus other items of interest, I was 8 and still have the photos of its visit to Campbelltown N.S.W.

[chrisgi...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, July 11, 1999 at 10:00:00 AM UTC+3, ian walker wrote:
> i remember as a small child visiting whyalla airport in south australia,
> with my dad, to see a gemini spacecraft on a promo tour... i was around 6 or
> 7 so that puts the time around '66-69. is there anywhere i could find out
> more details of this spacecraft and the tour it was on?

I was there too

[Big Robbie]

> > I remember that gemini capsule. I saw it at whyalla airport as a kid in the 60s.
> > Ed Farrell
> I made enquiries at the Johnson Space Centre when I visited in May 2018. Apparently it was the Gemini 10 capsule that I saw as a young boy at the Brisbane showground Pavillion in the 60's and it was the real deal.

yep I remember those days, it was about late 1960, may have been early 1961. Gemini 10. It was at the Brisbane Showgrounds but it spent a day on a low loader in the Coles shopping centre carpark of the bayside suburb of Wynnum in Florence Street. I went to see it there. I have somewhat of a photographic memory and if I try hard enough I can even give you a date. But the thing that struck me was it was burnt black, and I thought "huh!!, didn't they bother to clean it??" ( hahah I was only 4 and a half years old then )

[Greg (Strider) Moore]

"Big Robbie" wrote in message
news:56a1ca76-9308-447d...@googlegroups.com...

Couldn't have been 1960. Gemini's first flight was 1964 (uncrewed Gemini 1)
and 10 didn't fly until 1966.

--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net
IT Disaster Response -
https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Response-Lessons-Learned-Field/dp/1484221834/

[Quentin Hall]

Dear Ed,


You are NOT going mad and your memory was SPOT ON.

It was Gemini 10 and I've spent nearly 15 years trying to chase this one down. It was on display outside the Perth Town Hall on the 21st August 1967 (Ref: "The West Australian Newspaper, 21 August 1967, Page 7") after being trucked down from Kalgoorlie (having flown the year before with none other than one Michael Collins being co-pilot - he of course being on the Apollo 11 crew a few years later). Dare I presume it was trucked over from Adelaide over the Nullarbor thus it being in Kalgoorlie BEFORE it came to Perth. It went on "north bound" to Geraldton and Carnarvon and perhaps some other country areas. Carnarvon of course, was picked as a destination due to the Space Tracking Station up there (still is actually but not sure how "used" it is nowadays).

7000 people saw it in one day in Perth (when Perth's population was a heady 500,000 people) - myself included (well my mother took me - I was 6 years of age). The crowd pushed us through so quickly and I was bitterly disappointed - must have shown as my mother and I rejoined the queue again. It was "School Holidays" time (August school holidays - back when we had "3 school terms" a year not the "4 Semesters" they have now).

The Gemini Capsule now resides in a Space Museum, in Hutchinson, Kansas (just N/W of Wichita, Kansas, USA) after being in Norway for many, many years.


Hope that helps.


Quentin
Perth, Western Australia

[A3D Sound]

I SAW IT IN tOOWOOMBA 1968/9 AT ACRA DEALER SHIP.