A three-axis prototype controller, giving pitch, yaw and roll control to the capsule pilot, circa 1962. It has a striking resemblance to the Mercury controller (see below), with a set of linkages that would control variable valves on the SE-6 thrusters. As the design progressed through Gemini to Apollo, the physical linkages gave way to a fly-by-wire system, much like the modernization of automobiles.

The artifact has been in the family of an Apollo test engineer for many years, a prized memento with its hand-carved wooden grip.

12 responses to “Prototype Gemini Hand Controller”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    From NASA Technical Note TN D-7884: APOLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT – CREW STATION INTEGRATION Volume III – Spacecraft Hand Controller Development:
    Mercury 3-axis controller

    From the Spaceaholic, part number sleuth extraordinaire:
    jurvetson_prototype_annotated

    Reply
  2. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Some other cool Gemini artifacts:
    ° The map used on the first flight… paper and transparency overlay to figure out what the window view passed over:
    Flown Gemini Orbital Chart GT-3

    ° White Room mementos from John Young (Gemini GT-3 and GT-10)
    GT-3 White Room2

    Reply
  3. BWJones Avatar
    BWJones

    Nice photographs. Photoshopped onto the background or shot in a mini studio?

    Reply
  4. pegleg000 Avatar
    pegleg000

    Interesting. Just tonight, PBS aired a Huell Howser "California’s Gold" segment at Edwards/Dryden, focusing on the Lunar Lander Research Vehicle (LLRV) from the early ’60s, along with the chief engineer, Gene Matranga, and test pilot, Don Mallick. They spent a bit of time examining a controller that looked very much like this. A preview snippet of the show is at
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWNaL28w-0&feature=player_em...

    Reply
  5. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Love the old map techniques…crazy =)

    Prototype Gemini Hand Controller… Wait a sec…Prototype did you say ?

    Come on Steve… I know you like to experiment…but judging by the face and reaction of the test driver on this photo…I am not sure upgrading your Tesla with that kind of old fashion Hand Controller system, is a smart move O=)

    ————
    On something different, any interesting thoughts about the new player in LIFEtown ? =)

    PhotonQ-GFAJ-1 A new player in Life

    Reply
  6. andyi Avatar
    andyi

    This piece makes me marvel, once again, at how complete the engineering is in any machine with a sufficiently-high requirement for success. The Apollo computer and DSKY are singled out as miraculous feats, but honestly, the screw and the nut that held any one of those Gemini controller linkages were just as important and had to be given a hell of a lot of consideration.

    If the computer failed, yup, the mission and the astronauts’ lives were in jeopardy. But the same would be true if the astronauts couldn’t pitch and roll the spacecraft…and that stuff was all in the hands of whoever attached that rod to that linkage.

    I sometimes wonder if these things were going through the minds of the workers when they were assembling these components. It must be a very different gig than screwing car stereo faceplates onto dashboards!

    Reply
  7. Spaceaholic.com Avatar
    Spaceaholic.com

    Pegleg000 –

    Presume the controller you saw in the California Gold footage is this one (which was mounted on the right side of the LLRV cockpit. This three axis hand controller, which was actually a Gemini controller (heavily modified to duplicate Lunar Module forces and motion) was subsequently replaced with an actual LM Rotation controller in the LLTV (the Lunar Lander Training Vehicle).

    Reply
  8. TomiTapio Avatar
    TomiTapio

    It looks great!

    Reply
  9. solerena Avatar
    solerena

    interesting shape:)

    Reply
  10. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    A pure joy stick.

    PhotonQ – one detail they gloss over in the Mono Lake microbe discovery is that the organism needs phosphate to live. If you take all the phosphate away, it dies. And with low phosphate, the arsenic makes it very sick. It does not die, but there is no evidence yet that it is biologically active. So it’s more like the Keith Richards of microbes than an ET.

    pegleg – do you recall any details of the controller you saw? Mechanical linkages? Somewhat similar or very similar looking? Or more like the one spaceaholic posted above?

    Reply
  11. pegleg000 Avatar
    pegleg000

    The joystick assembly was loose, and they passed it around. It looked like it had linkages similar to yours but I didn’t get a really good look at it. IIRC, they mentioned that the mechanical linkages to the control actuators were replaced with a "fly-by-wire" system, but I think the joystick still had the mechanical links. TV is usually just background noise here, unless there is something that peaks my interest. They had some interesting footage of the "thing" (the LLRV) flying, and in one case, crashing, with the astronaut ejecting (they said Neil Armstrong, but I think it was another astronaut- to be verified). As a side note, when I worked at Langley AFB (~10 years ago), the NASA side of the base still had a lot of training equipment for Apollo, including a huge open frame structure used to provide reduced "g" suspension for LEM landing practice. In any case, you should look for a repeat of the show.

    Reply
  12. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Very interesting… especially if they show the mechanical linkage prototypes.

    This just in, another reference point from the Spaceaholic, indicating 1962 as the likely date for the early engineering model phase:
    Gemini Hand Controller Timeline

    and sure enough, John Young and crew hit that March 1965 first flight target, a triangle on a Gantt chart…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *