Gemini 11 mission set a crewed orbital flight altitude record
On September 14, 1966, NASA’s Gemini 11 mission set an altitude record for crewed flight in Earth orbit that stood for 58 years. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon aboard the Gemini spacecraft reached an apogee of 1,374.1 kilometers above Earth. The record among crewed missions not headed to the Moon remained unbeaten until 2024, Space.com reports.
Flight and rendezvous with Agena
Gemini 11 was the ninth crewed mission of the two-person Gemini program. Conrad was the crew commander, while Gordon was the pilot. During the three-day flight, they carried out the first rendezvous with the Agena target vehicle using a direct-ascent profile after launch.
After Gemini docked with Agena, the crew used the target vehicle’s engine to raise the orbit to the record altitude. The mission also included two spacewalks and eight scientific experiments.
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Artificial gravity experiment
During one of the spacewalks, Dick Gordon attached a 30-meter tether between Agena and the Gemini capsule. After reaching maximum altitude, Pete Conrad undocked the spacecraft and began moving away, causing the connected vehicles to rotate. This created a slight acceleration similar to gravity. The vehicles rotated in this mode for three hours, after which the tether was detached and Gemini 11 continued flying separately.
During the return, the crew also carried out NASA’s first automated atmospheric entry: the capsule completed this stage of the flight independently. Gemini 11’s altitude achievement was surpassed on September 10, 2024, by the private SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which reached a peak altitude of 1,400.7 kilometers.
