Gemini Transport Credit - McDonnell Douglas

This Gemini Transport version was proposed as a Gemini program follow-on in 1963. With the extended reentry module, this was the ancestor of the Big Gemini spacecraft of the late 1960's.

In 1962 NASA funded studies with several contractors on Operations and Logistics for Space Stations. McDonnell's study was dated 20 March 1963 and proposed three alternatives, all of which could be boosted by either a Titan 3M or Saturn IB Launch Vehicle, and all of which would be equipped with aft-mounted docking systems:

• Two-crew Gemini, relatively unmodified, with a cargo module
• Modified Gemini with a stretched re-entry vehicle (later fully developed into the Big-Gemini)
• New winged spaceplane, capable of accommodating two crew plus four passengers

Crew Size: 2. Length: 9.73 m (31.92 ft). Maximum Diameter: 6.61 m (21.68 ft). Mass: 18,500 kg (40,700 lb).