Thanks, Raoul. I've long had a soft spot for the Gemini design, a sporty little two-seater coupe that could fly higher than the Shuttle with the optional Agena turbocharger*. Now, Big Gemini, Gemini Gran Turisimo Orbitale in one model, Space Utility Vehicle in the other.

I think (with perfect hindsight) that we shouldn't have abandoned the Gemini family, but rather continued its evolution based on M-D's studies. That strategy for Soyuz served the Soviets well. Apropos the anniversary of the Apollo I fire, perhaps things would have turned out better if NASA had stuck with McDonnel-Douglas.

--Robert

(*--Or maybe it's because my astrological sign is Gemini, Ed White performed his spacewalk on my 11th birthday, and I was able to con my parents into letting me stay home from school to watch the missions...I was a sophisticated and jaded adolescent by the time of Apollo.)