Gemini 3A (Pre-Renovation)

The museum displays an unflown Gemini spacecraft, Gemini 3A. The photos here are prior to the renovation the museum undertook between my 2012 and 2018 visits.

The Smithsonian's page about this spacecraft notes that this spacecraft began its life as a boilerplate, but NASA decided that it wanted a replacement for spacecraft #3 so that the replacement could be used in thermo-vacuum tests. Spacecraft #3A was rebuilt as a flight-qualified spacecraft, lacking only a heatshield and ejection seats (although the spacecraft seems to have acquired seats somewhere along the line).

The Project Gemini Status Report No. 2 calls the spacecraft the flight backup for Gemini 3 and notes that it was first used for altitude chamber tests.

This spacecraft is Smithsonian inventory #A19711529000.

As of now, I have not yet sorted through all of my pictures of Gemini 3A, but some other page references this location. Thus, this is a "place holder" version right now, with only the pictures actually referenced. Come back some time later to see if I've finished up, or drop me an email to request me to prioritize the rest of these pictures.