Going to the Moon with Gemini Instead of Apollo?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- With the end of the decade already looming over NASA, the agency started considering other ways to get to the Moon. One possibility was to use the Gemini spacecraft, the one then under development by McDonnell, the company who also built the Mercury spacecraft.
For more on the lunar Gemini proposal including the different variations of the mission, check out this archived blog post on Vintage Space: amyshirateitel....
And for a lot more Vintage Space, check out my blog on Popular Science: www.popsci.com/...
And also follow me on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Twitter as @astVintageSpace.
Apparently every astronaut who flew the Gemini capsule said it was his favorite spacecraft. It was sportier than Apollo and handled like a jet fighter.
+CountArtha Only thing was it didn't have the best headroom.
+tightshot88 That's the kind of mission that by the end, you've either flown with your best friend or your worst enemy.
+tightshot88 Gemini may have been a sports car to the boys. But, once NASA bolted all this extra equipment to the back, lobed it all the way to the lunar surface, flown it back about a week in the prone position without changing out of the spacesuit - they would have smelled like zombies and looked about as healthy. The charm would have been lost.
bobert4him Apparently the Apollo CM was pretty whiffy by the end of a mission. One of the astronauts (I wanna say Duke, but I can't remember for sure) told a story about the evening after splashdown. One of the techs on board the recovery ship stuck his head in the CM to get something, and immediately started gagging from the smell.
One difficulty that they had with making the drinking water with the fuel cells is that the water had numerous tiny bubbles of hydrogen in it. When you drink that, it does a number on your intestinal tract and makes any gaseous emissions particularly florid.
The astronauts didn't notice because it built up over the course of the flight.
+almostfm It was Bill Anders who told that story.
Must admit, the only thing that fascinates me more than these described events is the fact that You have SO MUCH enthusiasm for it, that this video was done on the spot in some room, and the time was "NOW". Fascinating fascination. You inspire more people than you can imagine...
The moon in Gemini? that would have been crazy! I can't even stand a few hours in a small car.
+Ann Teak To coupe with.
+SirDeanosity, that went terribly unappreciated... *tips hat*
Lets also not forget that the same time span had already been accomplished. Gordo Cooper and Pete Conrad spent 8 days on Gemini V, while Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent 14 days on Gemini VII. Granted, if they either didn't have the lightweight suits, or were allowed to both have it off for the earlier duration of the mission, the smells wouldn't have been quite so bad, lol.
As UNcomfortable as that would've been compared to Apollo, there's not a single astronaut of that era who wouldn't have been just as eager to "GO FOR TLI!"... "Roger, Go for TLI, AGC Program 15 loaded, IU parameters upload complete, and... Master ARM switch ON!... Moon or BUST!" =:O
@@MajorCaliber Lovell & Borman set a duration record (at the time) of nearly 14 days in Gemini 7 -- easily enough time for a lunar mission.
I prefer to imagine what it would have been like if we'd followed Von Braun's original plan to do a massive expedition to the moon, using three ships and 50 astronaut crew members, where they stay for 6 weeks and then return.....But when you're pressed for time, romance goes out the window....
What?! 3 ships , 50 astronauts , 6 weeks on moon ? This sounds like something from a movie about german crazy genius scientist..
Rio max Note, genius.
It sounds like the story line of a lot of sci-fi films from the 50's and 60's. The only thing missing is a moon monster that looks suspiciously like a guy in a rubber suit that seems to have a predilection for kidnapping sexy female scientists in skin-tight space suits.
Well, he sort of was. But it takes crazy people to undergo the risks of going into space.
Von Braun was a big fan of big missions, it would have been very different manned space program if he'd had his way.
Apollo 13 would have looked a bit different without a LM to retreat to.
+nmh5001 Apollo 13's crew was able to return to Earth due to the LM as it was configured. Had the Gemini-moon design been adopted, those three men might have not survived.
This is all assuming the Apollo 13 explosion would have even happened, had it been Gemini-XIX or Gemini L-7 or whatever the name would have been.
So, too, would have Apollo 8 if the same mishap had happened on that flight. Not sure I understand your point.
Obviously, Apollo 8 nor Apollo 13 would have ever happened if the Apollo spacecraft/program didn't exist.
I think the point nmh5001 is trying to make is that having two spacecraft provided a "lifeboat" redundancy in the system. Had the same mishap occurred on a lunar Gemini flight, there would have been no such option, and the crew might likely have died in space. Don't forget, they had redundant H2 and O2 systems in the SM, and both of these failed on 13. It was only the presence of a completely separate, self-contained backup (the LM) that enabled the crew to survive.
It is funny that "Vintage Space" mentions in this video. There was a movie called "Countdown" (1968) that starred Robert Duvall and James Caan. It was a story about a American Moon Landing. The lander had the Descent Stage of the Lunar Module, but the one-man Crew Cabin was a Gemini Spacecraft. One of my favorite James Caan and Robert Duvall movies of all time. Another one of my favorite Apollo Era movies is "Marooned" (1969) with Gregory Peck.
After seeing how much trouble the astronauts had getting back into the Gemini spacecraft after an EVA as well as the condition of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell after their endurance flight I think it's a damned good thing that Jim Webb put his foot down and squashed this plan!
I adore your presentations. So well done. These programs were the second and third decade of my life. All the nerds knew every detail available. Yet I always learn at least one new thing from you. I always liked the Gemini, maybe partly because it was built in my hometown, and had more pilot input than the others. Many of my parent's friends worked on it. Others, like my Dad worked for sub-contractors. It was the real "Golden Age" of manned space flight.
im glad i found a channel that is as interested in space exploration as i am.
kadarrius jones 🥳🤪😛
@@damienbinladin1916 yes?
I heard about this idea several years ago. I saw a lot more artist renderings including a space station and a moon base all based on the Gemini capsule.
The astronauts loved the Gemini because instead of just sitting in there, as with the Mercury or Apollo capsules, this one felt more like a real pilot's ship. I mean they actually tested staying in orbit for fourteen days in one of those things.
Amy,
Keep up the good work.
Amazing info and history lessons.
It's people like you that will get us to the stars!
It would have needed a different heat shield as the return velocity is much higher than a normal orbital flight.
In a Gemini capsule? I think the astronauts of at least one mission would have gone stir crazy in that small of a space. :P
Cant remember who they was but 2 dudes spent 2 weeks in the Gemini capsule in orbit?
@@TheHannible - Jim Lovell and Frank Borman spent 14 days orbiting the earth during Gemini 7. Their boredom was interrupted briefly when Gemini 6 launched into space and rendezvoused with Gemini 7.
This was sort of the idea behind the 1960's movie "Countdown" which sent James Caan solo to the moon in a Gemini.
+KlunkerRider ...and his life is saved because he thought to bring his lucky toy mouse with him.
Actually in the book he flew a modified Mercury capsule.
A film about the first country to send James Caan to the moon and it didn't get an academy award?!
My grandmother worked at McDonnell until 1976.
There was some talk about using Agena to do a free return around the moon and back.
If I remember correctly, Agena didn't have the thrust to do it. Also there was concerns about stress on the mate point between Agena and Gemini during TLI.
On the later flights, Agena did help change the orbit but not at the thrust needed for TLI.
I am watching this 6 years old vid in 2021 and realize how good you became during the years. Respect!
I have always wondered about the heat shield on a lunar Gemini. The standard heat shield would never have been adequate for reentry at 24,000 mph. I suspect that in addition to mounting a thicker and heavier heat shield on the base some kind of additional thermal protection would have been needed over the titanium shingles on the sides.
Love your recent focus on the best program, Gemini. Nice to learn good history and appreciate beauty all at once.
Sounds like a great mission for Lovell and Borman after their 14-day flight on Gemini 7 ;-)
It was used as a moon lander. In the movie “Countdown”.
There was a movie loosely based on that idea, 1968's Countdown. In it, an unoccupied base module was sent to the moon and then a modified gemini was set to land nearby, whereupon the sole astronaut would hunker down in the base until they could bring him home. ;)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countdown_(1968_film)
Great video! I laughed a bit at you referring to that huge 2-stage spacecraft as a "service module", but then couldn't think of a better name. :)
In fall 1961, Jim Chamberlin, the designer and first program manager of Gemini, also designed a "lunar Gemini" when the project was still called "Mercury II". It actually was the first case of a system using Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) and was completely different than the method mentioned in the video. He designed, along fellow Avro Canada alumni, Owen Maynard, a Lunar Module that was open-faced, and obviously non-pressurized. This configuration would not have needed the Saturn V and could have flown possibly two or even three years earlier than Apollo 11 because it was essentially a standard Gemini, and the only new piece of equipment was the lander. Since it got shot down by Jim Webb in late fall 1961, a final decision was not made on what rocket and inter-stage would have been used to perform TLI and TEI. Do you have more information about this system?
+Joey Schwartz I do, somewhere deep in my massive folder of pdfs (as a Canadian I'm a big Chamberlain fan!). I'll try to dig stuff up, but it might take me a while!
I think Chamberlin's September 1961 proposal called for a Lunar Flyby in1966 using a Centaur rocket stage for the TLI and TEI burns (not entirely sure if it was orbital or not, might have been a circumlunar flight with free return).
+tightshot88 Well, it was a bridge in that it was the first serious LOR design at the Space Task Group (STG). Chamberlin's use of modules specific to functions - such as lunar landing and launching, Earth return - made the system more practical from an engineering perspective. It paved the way for others at STG to take LOR seriously, and it helped John Homboult gain the support he needed to push that mode through the various panels at NASA. It was in July 1962 that LOR was decided on within NASA. NASA's headquarters officials -namely Robert Seamans, Hugh Dryden, James Webb, and Brainerd Holmes - concurred with a recommendation for LOR by the Manned Space Flight Management Council that month. Without Chamberlin's Lunar Gemini concept, and its modular spacecraft approach, it is most likely that EOR would have been the mode decided on in 1962.
Well, Hell, think about how bored those poor souls at Grumman would have been, with no LEM to build, if NASA had gone that route...I think it showed great sensitivity to the feelings of all of those engineers and designers of the LEM that they weren't left with anything to do but bend paperclips and drink bad coffee.
A Canadian's Avro engineer ? that explain why that configuration wasn't selected... he was Canadian ! that's also why Avro was closed down and why they put some sort of long "pins" under the LEM legs........
Never knew this, and I thought I knew it all about the space program!
In 1965 in Adelaide, we had a little kitten Gemini. In 1966 we moved to Brisbane, Gemini flew on a Boeing 727, he was there in 2-3hrs. We went by bus, it took 3 days. What a cool cat GEMINI.
I would love to see a video on the unrealized emergency re-entry methods explored in the early years of spaceflight. Rogallo wings instead of parachutes on capsules, individual crew escape inflatable/foam inflated pods, etc.
I see several people commenting on how the capsule must have smelled and spending so long in such a small space: Take a look at Gemini 7. Borman and Lovell spent 14 days sitting in that bathtub! They crapped into plastic bags that had adhesive around the lip, and it was so crowded your partner had to help deal with your bag. Fun!
Maybe Amy knows whether this one's true, but I've heard that a sailor who reached into the capsule to help the astronauts unstrap vomited into one of their laps when the smell hit him. A memorable welcome home!
I have seen many documents,articles,books ect ect on the Mercury, Gemini and especially Apollo programs. I have never seen these diagrams! Thanks Amy, outstanding
Ok, imagine being locked in a chair for around one and a half week... not exactaly the most comfy ride in the world.
GuruThesla Well, Frank Borman & Jim Lovell did just that for 14 days in Gemini 7 - and they'd agree, it wasn't exactly a pleasure cruise!
GuruThesla shouldn't be too bad, there isn't gravity to pull you down into the seat
Richie Smith still, you can't really stretch. pluss, you can never go to the bathroom with privacy.
lesnyk255 oh man, some true heroes they are!
+SKYLANDBAK if i remember correctaly, they had a problem with this in one of the apollos. all of a sudden, flying dingleberry....
This awsome series about space history is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
I got interested in space when a Gemini spacecraft visited down under.. thanks from NZ 👍🇳🇿
Love this channel. Thank you!
Could you do a video on the soviet Soyuz program?
+Alberto Ramirez The Soviet space program would be a great topic and a can of worms to boot. Research would require expertise at navigating revised history and propaganda.
It’s been done: ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20000088626
Gemini only had room for 2 astronauts.
It was my favorite and cool asf.
Never meant to go the moon.
Need 2 for L.M and 1 for CM.
Not when the CM *IS* the LM!
This is such an awesome video, especially since I LOVE alternative history. Thanks!
Thank you for answering a question I had as a nerdy, NASA-obsessed pre-teen in the 60s.
Matt Watrous 🤭
Thank God for Jim Webb. It's a great intellectual exercise to figure out how to do it, but "just because they could doesn't mean that they should."
Ive subscribed to a few "space" channels and literally learn less than nothing (like a guy claimed that it was quicker to get to Mars than Venus, and he did it 3 times in 2 different videos). However this channel is top quality. Thanks for your vids :)
My comment has more to do with Amy. She does a great job in digging up all this stuff for us to enjoy. Thank you Amy!
If you saw the movie "Countdown (1968)", an astronaut landed on the moon using a modified Gemini. Only one!
Great videos Amy. How did the engineers deal with cryogenic liquids and thermal expansion issues of metals. Were there problems with maintaining precision tolerances say in the rocketdyne f1 turbopumps? Did the uninsulated S1C LOX tank actually contract? Did the aluminum become brittle? What knowledge on metallurgy was involved? Likewise the thermal shock stresses on metals in spaceflight. How did they work on these issues?
Look up the movie “Countdown” which featured a Gemini lunar landing spacecraft. It was a one way spacecraft planning to land next to a previously launched and landed lunar survival shelter. The plan was to place an American astronaut on the moon before the Soviets and have him brought back to earth months later by Apollo!
The plot of the film "Countdown" would have required that a single person pilot the lunar module to a landing. I remember Buzz Aldrin giving Armstrong what sounded like critical information during the descent. COULD one person have managed the landing alone?
Reminds me of the 1968 movie by James Caan and Robert Duval entitled ”Countdown”. The Gemini capsule was mounted on the descent stage of the LEM. Check it out, very interesting and entertaining movie for space buffs👍
Thanks for a short watchable video!!!
I really enjoy your videos. I'm a space junkie and I remember when Apollo 11 landed. It was on my Bday.
There was a Science Fiction Move made in the sixties called Countdown. In this movie a Gemini Capsule with a lunar descent stage made a one way trip to the Moon. The shingle Astronaut had to walk to a shelter to wait for Apollo to eventually be rescued. Interesdting Movie
I seem to recall seeing a timeline/cost/benefit comparison between Apollo and Lunar Gemini programs. The latter did have some projected cost savings and, depending on the number of test flights, a shorter development time, but it was not a substantial difference. Where Apollo seemed to have a big advantage was the quantity and quality of lunar exploration. More experiments, more sample returns, more time on the lunar surface.
They also had Big Gemini and Gemini B that was to be used with the Manned Orbital Laboratory. I think when Kerbal Space Program ships for the PS4 I will try to do some Agena missions and some space station missions.
As someone who grew up with Gemini, when I read this, I was intrigued. I agree with James Webb. Landing Gemini on the moon would divert too much funding from apollo, but there were less complex lunar missions that could have been accomplished. Suppose a fully fueled centaur rocket with a Gemini adapter attached to it much like the Agena spacecraft had, was placed into orbit, with a "Lunar ready" Gemini spacecraft with a more robust heat shield covering both the craft and its blunt end was used? I don't know which rockets would have been needed, but I would guess the heavier Gemini could not have been lifted into orbit by a Titan II. Perhaps both needed a Titan IIIC. Geminis 10 and 11 both used the less powerful Agena to boost each craft into higher earth orbital missions. The more powerful Centaur could have sent Gemini on a loop around the moon like the path Apollo 13 eventually took. What would the science be on such a mission? Probably negligible, but we could have "gone to the moon and returned safely to earth" almost 2 full years before Apollo 8, and gave us a commanding lead in the space race. In addition, such a mission would have taken only 6 days, well within the design specifications for the Gemini spacecraft.
Sounds very Kerbal to me. The whole idea of a daisy-chain lander is key to that game. But real life? A bit more hardware assurance and alternative options are needed (Apollo 13 anyone?)
Yup. In real life, staging is a very risky maneuver and these plans involved staging only a mile off the surface?
Not to mention the rube-Goldberg methods for the astronauts to be able to see the surface.
Interesting. As successful as the Gemini program was it does seem strange in hindsight that they never did anything else with the program. I know they had ideas like this and Big Gemini.
I don't know if you remember the movie Countdown (1967) with James Caan and Robert Duvall and Ted Knight, but this shows a manned lunar landing with a Gemini capsule.
I've wondered if a Gemini launched by a Titan III could do a loop around the Moon. No landing, and not go into orbit around the Moon. If that would have worked, it could have been done a lot sooner than Apollo 8.
Well the designed a giant Gemini capsule that could sit 12 astronauts there was a hatch at the back of the capsule and entered into a another stage where
There was living quarters. Making it more roomier.
What about an video about Blue Gemini, Advanced Gemini, and/or the Manned Orbital Laboratory. MOL's astronauts werefolded into NASA Astronaut Corps upon its cancellation (Thanks SecDef McNamara) including Robert Crippen of STS-1 Columbia.
Released on my birthday 3 years ago. :) Very interesting video thanks for making this, hadn't heard of gemini prior to this video.
Project Orion would have been a ride-and-a-half, if you're thinking alternative histories
Here is my show request. How about a show featuring some of the sites where the research and manufacturing took place and the manufacturers themselves (insert: "road trip!" Here). JPL, Boeing, Rockwell, Grumman, Huntsville, Cape Canaveral and, well I'm sure you can do more than that. It would be interesting to see the leaps in manufacturing and technology knowledge gained through the space program. Thanks again for a great show.
You have got to realize that at some point someone comes up with wild concepts and ideas for every project. It does not mean it was ever seriously considered or proposed. Just something someone threw up on a chalkboard when they were bored.
Of course it highlighted the point she was making about the cramped conditions for the astronauts in the Geminii capsule by contrasting it against all the "space" she was enjoying.
I want to go back to the Moon, with Amy !!!
Go find some little "Green Bastards!" on the moon
same here
Sweet, stacked little redhead!
There was also a proposal for a Gemini-Agena stack lunar flyby. This idea could have actually been quite plausible without a whole lot of modifications to the already available technology at the time.
I love seeing girls excited about all this stuff!
I love your videos!!
Did anyone mention the movie Countdown? the pilgrim mission sent one astronaut in a Gemini craft with LEM descent stage. then the astronaut would land near by and get into an ISO shelter till Apollo landed 1 year later. it stared James Caan and Robert Duval.
You asked for alternate history ideas. We know now, but did not know then, The Space Race, would be the final major battle of The Cold War. Therefore had we gotten to the Moon years earlier, it is entirely possible that the Space race and space program may have continued unabated after the Lunar Landings and possibly on to permanent Space Station, (instead of Skylab) Lunar colonization or a trip to Mars. Few people believed that a spirit of detente, nuclear weapons treaties, and political relations with China, would coincide with the last Apollo Missions. Therefore ending the sense of urgency and public support for Space Exploration. In other words, that five extra years of international tension would have benefited NASA.
I think if the Russians got to the moon first we would have had a manned mission to Mars by 1980
In buzz aldrin's space program manager when you do some rnd Gemini is one of the options so that's how I found out about this idea
I believe any of the astronaut pilots could have landed just about anything they could fly to the moon. It would really be interesting to have seen the Gemini go to the moon.
I remember the movie Countdown from 1968 with James Caan using a Gemini Capsule for landing on the moon but nasa sent a shelter he must find that looks very similar to the actual lunar module
She is pronouncing Gemini "correctly", the way I hear it pronounced in various historical videos (such as contemporary news coverage). Not having been born until almost the end of the Apollo program I was pronouncing it "Gem-in-EYE" most of my life.
+Michael Sheldon Reed - Yep she is correct in this case. The masculine nominative plural is usually pronounced with a long e.
Gemin-eye is correct. Period.
She is pronouncing it wrong. Go watch any documentary with interviews. It is gemin-eye. I dont get why she is doing this, it is embarrassing.
Common_C3nts Take a lesson in Greek. It's GEM-in-KNEE.
Brad K Take a lesson in Greek. It's GEM-in-KNEE
Alternative history: Ellliot See and Charles Bassett become the first men on the moon... But seriously, Can you imagine how rank it must have been for Lovell and Borman after two weeks?
They say the smell was so bad it knocked the navy frogmen off the capsule when they opened the hatch.
Nice soft lighting. (I used to do photography.)
I am a space nerd but yet I have learnt so mutch from your videos. Tanks so mutch. Please, pretty please, post more stuff! P.s. I am very drunk but there was a moon
Could you talk about the Gemini-MOL program?
upvote,i always wanted to know why the hell there is the Big G capsule on FASA mod for KSP
What does "direct ascent trajectory" mean? I wish you would include trajectory diagrams of these considered missions. : /
Direct Ascent means that the entire spacecraft lands on the moon and lifts off again. In contrast to a lunar orbit rendez-vous that Apollo did, where a separate lander lands on the surface, lifts off and docks with the command module.
Going to the Moon in Gemini may have resulted in the first space homicide.
A direct ascent landing with Gemini sounds like it would have been quite expensive and a bit risky. Probably best to have stuck with Apollo and a Lunar Orbital Rendezvous approach. But, if they needed to do a flyby of the Moon, like what the Soviets were considering with Zond (and did with a menageries including steppe tortoises), then would have to wonder if a Gemini on a Saturn 1B would have been possible (maybe with just one astronaut). Or possible to accomplish an Earth Orbital Rendezvous with a rocket booster (sent up by Saturn 1B, or a Titan III variant, like Titan IIIC), to do a flyby at the time (say around 1967/early 1968) ... like a more dramatic version of Gemini 11 getting boosted to 852 miles up by an Agena Target Vehicle?
The Gemini builders would always have proposed these ideas as options, but NASA would always have passed; while Gemini was off-shelf tech that was relatively proven, it was not intended for much beyond orbital research, while Appolo was mission-specific as a moon program.
Nicely done.
Apollo 10 lost some control in the LM but regained it quickly. I recently saw footage of that. I don't recall any other Apollo flight losing total control.
"Son of a bitch!" - Tom Strafford
Could you do a video or two about the Orion spacecraft? (1950 version)
Watch the 1967 James Caan movie "Countdown" to see what it would look like. They do it int he film as the US is forced to respond to an early Russian attempt.
Thanks for posting such informative and interesting videos about space exploration technology and history. They're always something to look forward to. Could I ask where you got that neat shirt you're wearing?
I think i've learned more about space then the 5 trips I've taken to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
This is closer to how I plan missions on the Mun in KSP.
Yeah being cooped up in something like that for that amount of time drive me insane.
IIRC Gemini 7 was about 14 days long. That'd have been a nightmare.
Hi Amy! I thought I knew a lot about the Moon program, but this subject I did not know! You really are a wealth of information! It also seems like you were really stoked in this video, is that because you love Gemini so much?
Shows you how much under pressure they felt they were under. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and the (slightly) less hairy Apollo system was used.
This idea was used in that 1964 movie: ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS
could you give more info on moll . where a gemini had an empty booster with a door in the heat shield. kind of a cheap skylab. also how versatile the gemini spacecraft really was
Neat, I was hoping there'd be a vid on this
Jim Lovell & Frank Borman spent a couple weeks(!) in a Gemini capsule on Gemini 7 (if memory serves correct). So it wouldn't be impossible to go to the moon and back in one.
+playgroundchooser And if you ask them, they almost went nuts.
Anthony Belkowski And yet NASA paired them again on Apollo 8. :)
I'd guess that the smaller basic size of the Gemini architecture would have precluded many of the experiment packages and rover that later flew on Apollo. To finally perform those experiments there may have been a larger Apollo, perhaps closer in size to the current Orion project.
Just my speculations....
I was not aware of this, thank you for the quick and concise video. You rock! :-)
Phillip Green 🤩
That would make a nice scale model.
There was a plan for a free return trajectory flight using a Centaur stage in a manner similar too the Agena on earlier flights. But in the end how much cargo can this carry? Not much I'd say.
I see a lot of comments about the space in Gemini v Apollo, remember please that all these guys are pilots and trust me when I say there is no such thing as a spacious flight deck, my current ride is the B747-400 and the bit where we sit is no bigger than the DC 9, I admit if the mood takes me I can wander about in the passenger cabin if I want to but usually I spend anywhere from 6 to 10 hrs in that little space, most of the guys on the space program however were fast jet pilots that where used to the even smaller confines of a single seat fighter jet, I expect Gemini would have been a big improvement?
The extra weight of that escape system was crazy.
My Granpa worked on Gemini 5,6, and 7
Since Gemini only had 2 astronauts, there wouldn't have been any in orbit pics of the surface or the landing site unless they planned extra orbits to do those things.
A two-person mission could have been tricky but moreover, would it have made the major achievements of Gemini redundant? I refer mainly to the proof of concept of rendezvous since now there would not have been a need for the LEM to be flipped around mid-flight since the LEM and the CM are one and the same..