RCS Thruster

Reentry Control System (RCS) thruster, or Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA).
Flown as part of the Gemini IX spacecraft June 3-6, 1966.
One of 16 RCS thrusters mounted in the nose section of the Gemini for spacecraft attitude control during reentry.
Sixteen identical thrusters were also used in the Gemini Equipment Adapter section for the Orbital Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS).
Rated thrust 25 pounds.
Manufactured by Rocketdyne as Model SE-6.
Charring on the thruster nozzle resulted from the heat of combustion as well as reentry heating.
Autographed by astronauts Tom Stafford, Gemini-Titan (GT)-IX Commander, and Gene Cernan, GT-IX Pilot.


	Fuel injector (similar to the oxidizer injector shown) was removed by NASA for study. Cutaway view shows thruster components. See NASA photo of similar thrusters on the RCS section of Gemini VII after its flight. Compare the Gemini thruster with the thrusters used in Mercury and Apollo (in photo below).

”RCS” Note: For most spacecraft, the system for controlling attitude in space is called the Reaction Control System, or RCS. (Thrusters create an action to produce a spacecraft reaction.) In Gemini, this system was called the Orbital Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS). The system used during Gemini reentry (after the adapter section with the OAMS had been discarded) was called the Reentry Control System, also abbreviated RCS.


	2.1 lbs. (0.95 kg)