[Gemini V]

Directly from the Estate of Chuck Friedlander, NASA  

Gemini V, the third crewed Gemini mission, marked the first time that the U.S. held the world record for spaceflight duration, breaking the Soviet Union’s record set by Vostok 5 in 1963. Command Pilot Gordon Cooper Jr. and Pilot Pete Conrad were determined to break the record and, much to NASA’s dismay, adopted the slogan “8 Days or Bust.” They were able to (almost) achieve their goal due to new fuel cells that generated enough electricity to power the time that would be required to make it to the Moon and back. 

The event timer, as part of the command astronaut’s panel, was an integral tool during the mission as all aspects of the mission were strictly scheduled. It was able to record minutes and seconds up to 59 minutes, 59 seconds so was used for short-term functions. It also started at liftoff to provide a visual display of elapsed time during the ascent. The event timer would also serve as a backup should the electronic timer fail when timing out retrofire as it was independent from the electronic timer. 

Provenance: The estate of Chuck Friedlander, who served as Chief at the NASA Astronaut Support Office, KSC from 1963-1967, leaving shortly after the Apollo 1 tragedy for CBS News where he was Walter Cronkite’s Space Technical Consultant from 1967-1969. Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders invited Friedlander to join him in Washington as his Executive Assistant when he served as Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC) at the White House, from 1969-1972. Friedlander also served as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the International Aerospace Hall of Fame, San Diego, CA from 1973-1980.