"When asked why he doesn't believe in astrology, logician Raymond Smullyan says that he's a Gemini, and Geminis never believe in astrology."
Gemini was a series of missions flown by NASA, the United States space agency. It was started in 1961 when they saw a need for an intermediate step between the Mercury and Apollo projects, and it was dubbed "Gemini" in 1962.
Gemini's main goal was to produce a two-man manned spaceflight, to thereby study the effects of long term spaceflight and weightlessness on humans, to work out and test the procedures required for longer spaceflight, and to attempt methods of docking in space and landing on land, as opposed to water. (This last was cancelled from the program in 1964, so all the Gemini flights did land on water, but they perfected the landing control to the point where they could have theoretically landed on land.) NASA considers the Gemini project to have been highly successful, as it met most of these goals and made other minor achievements as well.
The Gemini spacecraft were an enlarged version of the Project Mercury capsules - a rounded cone, 19 feet high and 10 feet in diameter. Mighty cozy quarters for two grown men. The first Gemini flights started in 1964, and manned flights started in 1965, continuing through 1966. Each flight was given a roman numeral, as follows:
Gemini I
Gemini II (Gemini I and II were both unmanned. all later flights were flown with two men.)
Gemini III - first manned flight of Gemini
Gemini IV - first spacewalk for an American
Gemini V
Gemini VII - At just under 14 days, this was the longest of the Gemini flights. Its goal was to see if humans could live in space for 2 weeks. They could. I'm sure the astronauts were relieved. =)
Gemini VI - Yep, VI came after VII - VI was cancelled at first. VI met up with VII in space - cool!
Gemini VIII - This was the first docking in space. A malfunction caused it to spin out of control. They undocked and effected the first (but not last) emergency landing for NASA. The astronauts were unharmed.
Gemini IX
Gemini X
Gemini XI
Gemini XII - The last gemini flight, Gemini XII featured a then-record length spacewalk of over five hours.
thanks to nasa's site and my childhood subscription to Odyssey magazine.