State Historical Society recognizes Missouri's contribution to space travel
by Beverley Kreul, posted Feb. 18, 2009
“To land a man on the moon
and return him safely to earth.”
- President John F. Kennedy
The State Historical Society of Missouri recently hosted a collection of photographs covering Project Gemini. The St. Louis Gemini Story, produced by staff members of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection- St. Louis during the 1950s, is a photographic storyline of the creation of the Gemini spacecraft by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis. The exhibit ran from Jan. 24 through Feb. 2.
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program directed by NASA after Project Mercury. The project objective was to engage space travel for greater knowledge of orbiting, docking, re-entry, and landing maneuvers, gain additional information about the affects of weightlessness on crew members, and attempt the first space walks.
This was accomplished by conducting ten spacecraft launches in 15 months. That is an average of one launch every 66 days.
President Kennedy supported the program because the information to be gathered during Project Gemini would eventually lead the U.S. in successfully landing a man on the moon.
The State Historical Society of Missouri, located near Ellis Library, was host to a series of photographs depicting the process of creating such a spacecraft. Photographers from the St. Louis Post Dispatch were allowed exclusive coverage of the creation and provided very detailed pictures.
In addition to the story of Project Gemini, the photographs also show the influence of Missourians in space exploration. McDonnell Aircraft Corporation helped jump-start the creation of the futuristic device, thus catapulting the nation into the space exploration fever and the historical space race between the U.S. and Russia.
“ It was really interesting to see how influential Missouri was in the space program,” said Morgan Ledermann, journalism major from Plymouth, Calif. “I had no idea how involved Missouri was since it is so far away from the space stations.”
The State Historical Society is following up with the exhibit “Reaching for the Moon: How the Gemini Program Culminated in Apollo 11." See the Historical Society Web site for details.
