Gemini 2/MOL

The Gemini 2/MOL spacecraft was the first spacecraft to fly in space twice: It was first used in NASA's Gemini program, refurbished, and then flew in the US Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program.

In the Gemini program, Gemini 2 was the second and final unmanned flight; it was also the first Gemini spacecraft to be recovered (the Gemini 1 flight was designed only to verify the Gemini spacecraft and Titan II booster; it was not intended to be recovered and in fact holes were drilled in Gemini 1's heatshield to ensure that it would burn up during re-entry). Additional information about Gemini 2 can be found in Chapter 9-5 of On the Shoulders of Titans, NASA's Gemini program history.

In the 1960s the Air Force had a number of man-in-space programs; one was the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. A modified Gemini spacecraft, atop a Titan III booster, would be attached to a small space station. The astronauts would perform experiments and take photographs, eventually returning to Earth in the Gemini. Most interesting about the arrangement was that there was a hatch in the heatshield through which the astronauts would access the space station.

The Gemini 2 spacecraft was refurbished (the heatshield from its original Gemini 2 mission may be on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center) and had a hatch-sized cut-out made in its heatshield, was mated to a mockup of the MOL station, was launched, and was recovered. This was the only flight of the MOL program before it was canceled.

In June 2005, two MOL space suits were discovered in a locked room of Launch Complex 5/6. Kennedy Space Center has a story about this; apparently, one of the suits is now displayed next to the Gemini 2 spacecraft. The KSC article also has a picture of the MOL sitting on the pad as well as its launch.