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Presented here are examples of Gemini spacecraft heatshield presentations that were created in the shape of a capsule. The capsule manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft (St. Louis, Missouri) created these heatshield presentions for astronauts and a few select VIPs involved with the program. Post-flight, engineering teams took samples from the heatshield for analysis and once this process was completed, several presentations were made. Further information on the heatshield core sample process can be found here in the Project Gemini section. Two distinct styles exist: 1) Smooth and 2) Detailed as shown in the diagram below. Smooth capsules represent the overall silhouette of the manned portion of the Gemini spacecraft, with two small indentations representing windows. Detailed capsules include the retrograde section (aft of manned section) and significant features sculpted into the outer surface. Smooth capsules originally came with a hand crafted wood base, which is sometimes missing or damaged. Detailed capsules have several different base configurations for Gemini 8; for Gemini 11 they probably all had similarly designed wood bases similar to the smooth capsule presentations. The vast majority of presentations sold at auction or cuurently reside in museums originated from the collections of astronauts or McDonnell employess. For smooth capsules, it is estimated that as few as 4 or as many as 10 presentations were created for each flight. Detailed capsules have only been observed for Gemini 8 and 11. Since Gemini 8's entire heatshield was removed post-flight, it is not surprising to see more from this mission than any other. Only one Gemini 11 detailed capsule has been seen with a heatshield section encased, the others are painted like models and it is not known if any heatshield is embedded. A sub-set are those presentations containing an original crew patch mounted between the acrylic and wood base. Presentations for Gemini 12 contain a flown crew patch as described in the engraved description on the acrylic. It is presumed that the mission patches for Gemini 7 and 11 were also flown on-board but this is not known for certain at this point in time. The Gemini 8 mission patches are a common souvenir version and were not flown. These capsule shaped displays are prone to damage and detoriation if not handled with care. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight, high temperatures, and humidity extremes to protect against acrylic yellowing and wood veneer cracking. The stems are fragile and can break or crack easily. This issue was originally addressed begining with several of the displays for Gemini 6. A thicker, gold colored, reinforced (knurled) stem was introduced replacing the slimmer, silver rod type. This reinforced design was used exclusively for the remainder of the program (GT-7 through GT-12). The acrylic base slides tightly into a cutout in the wood base (not glued originally). When moving the presentation, lifting should be done using the wood/acrylic base instead of the capsule portion. As there is no prior comprehensive guide, these photos and tables are intended to encourge further discussion with periodic site updates as new information is discovered and reviewed. Futher discussions about the various types of heatshield acrylics can be found on collectSPACE. Please feel free to send in photos of presentations you've seen that are not represented here for inclusion in the archive. |
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