File:Gemini Spacecraft – ‘Gemini VII’ (51281911258).jpg

Covered by a protective plastic shell, this is the original capsule from the Gemini VII mission. Officially designated as Gemini SC7, it was built by McDonnell and launched by a Titan II GLV rocket built by Martin. The mission was planned as a long duration flight to investigate the effects on the human body of spending 14 days weightless in space. Launched on 4th December 1965, the total mission time was actually 13 days, 18 hours, 35 minutes and 1 second. This doubled the length of time that anybody had previously spent in space and stood as a duration record for five years. Command Pilot Frank Borman and Pilot Jim Lovell completed 206 earth orbits and while doing so their spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous, performed by Gemini VI-A. Both the duration and the rendezvous were important steps towards the later Apollo Moon landings. This historic capsule was transferred to the Smithsonian Institute from NASA in 1968 and it is now part of the National Air and Space Museum. It is seen on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia