Air Force pilot (1930-1964) selected as part of the third group of astronauts. He was killed on October 31, 1964, when a goose smashed through the cockpit canopy of his T-38 Talon jet trainer. He ejected from the aircraft but was too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly. Theodore Freeman’s personally-owned and -used training notebook, signed five times throughout in pencil, “Capt. T. C. Freeman, “T. C. Freeman,” or “Freeman,” undated, but very likely circa February-June 1964, a period that aligns with the Science Training Schedule for NASA’s Astronaut Group 3. This impressive ring-bound training binder, 10.5″ x 11.5″ x 3″, contains over 200 pages of handwritten notes, diagrams, and mathematical expressions, in addition to various tests, results, loose-leaf pages, and handouts, all of which feature significant annotations; virtually the entire binder is filled with double-sided pages of Freeman’s handwriting and navigational computations. Chapters include: Flight Mechanics (with sections for Free Flight Trajectories, Space Orbits, Inertial Guidance, Reentry Mechanics, Heating, Guidance and Control) and Aerodynamics (Orbital Mechanics, Burning Flight, Thrust Programming, and Radiative and Convective heating). A notable highlight can be found on a page marked “Stability,” which contains a Gemini capsule sketch with paragraphs related to damping, control, and stability derivatives. In overall fine condition. Training-used manuals from early NASA astronauts are exceedingly rare, with this example, deriving from the personal collection of Ted Freeman, whose astronautical career was cut tragically short, being among the very finest and most meticulous that we have ever seen or offered.
According to the 2001 book Gemini: Steps to the Moon by David Shayler, the astronauts of NASA Group 3 worked on “Flight Mechanics” and “Aerodynamics” during this five-month period, amounting to a total of 20 class sessions and 40 total hours. ‘The new Group 3 astronaut trainees embarked on the third round of academic studies, as had the sixteen astronauts before them. With the first manned Gemini missions fast approaching many of the first two groups of astronauts were becoming involved in preparations for their assignment to early flight crews, and were involved in Gemini mission training…In addition to completing their basic training program and receiving Gemini familiarization training and briefings, the fourteen new astronauts took more assignments in Apollo than had the previous groups, as many of them were expected to progress to Apollo missions.’
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