Aug. 29, 1965 | Gemini 5 Comes Home

Aug. 29, 1965 - Gemini 5 returned from space today after a record-breaking eight-day flight, landing safely in the Atlantic Ocean 346 miles southwest of Bermuda. The successful conclusion of the 3,300,000-miles mission gave a tremendous boost to the U.S. manned spaceflight program, aimed at putting two Americans on the moon before 1970. The flight’s duration, in itself, was equivalent in time to a round trip to the moon with about two days in between for exploration of the lunar surface. Gemini 5 was piloted by Lt. Col. L. Gordon Cooper, 38, of the Air Force, and Lt. Cmdr. Charles Conrad, 35, of the Navy.

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