Acquisition running lights and target vehicle status display indicators were situated on the front end. The docking cone was connected to the front end by shock absorbing dampers. A minimum of five engine starts was possible. The Agena propulsion systems could be run while the Gemini was docked, allowing the GATV to be used to change the orbit of the docked pair. Propulsion was via a bi-propellant system, using unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA). The primary and secondary propulsion systems were at the aft end of the target vehicle with the attitude control gas tanks, and the main propellant (fuel and oxidizer) tanks were located in the mid-section. The forward section of the Agena airframe held the guidance, flight control electronics, telemetry, command, tracking, electrical power, and propellant pressurization equipment. The GATV was a 7.93 meter long cylinder with a diameter of 1.52 meters, a dry mass of 1835 kg, and a fueled mass at orbital injection of 3282 kg. The GATV had a docking cone at the forward end into which the nose of the Gemini spacecraft could be inserted and held with docking latches. The Gemini Agena Target Vehicle was designed to be launched into Earth orbit prior to a Gemini mission and used for rendezvous and docking practice. In total, the GATV received and executed 1700 commands, 1350 from ground control and 350 from Gemini 10. Another primary system firing followed by a secondary system firing resulted in a circular 352 km orbit. After reentry of Gemini 10, a primary propulsion system firing put the GATV into a 386.6 x 1390.8 km orbit to determine temperature effects of such a high orbit on the vehicle (no appreciable differences were found). Gemini 10 separated from the GATV at 2:00 p.m. on 19 July brought the spacecraft into a near-circular 380 km orbit, the same orbit as the GATV which had been launched on 16 March for the Gemini 8 mission. While the spacecraft were docked, a bending mode test was conducted to study spacecraft dynamics. A 14-second burn of the GATV primary propulsion system was used to raise the dual spacecraft apogee to 764 km. To conserve fuel, Gemini 10 remained docked to GATV-10 for the next 39 hours and used the GATV propulsion system for maneuvers. A large out-of-plane error in the initial Gemini 10 orbit required use of 60% of its fuel for the rendezvous, over twice the planned amount. Gemini 10, which was launched an hour and 40 minutes later, achieved rendezvous with the GATV at 10:43 p.m. The Gemini 10 Agena Target Vehicle (GATV 5005) was successfully launched from Cape Kennedy on Jat 3:39:46 p.m.
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