re: Twice used Gemini 2
Interesting, Gary, thanks.
Gemini 2 had also, later, been used atop the TitanIII testing the MOL configuration and it had a hatch on the heat shield.
Looks like it worked fine and re-entry went alright!
(Well, being unmanned, the hatch had not been opened in orbit, so...)
Can't that be an idea for the CEV (for instance, an orbital module right behind the capsule rather than in front of it like with the Russians and the Chinese, in order to have less of a mass to eject with the launch escape tower?)
Raoul