Statement by the President Following the Completion of the Final Flight in the Gemini Program.
TODAY is another proud day in the history of man's peaceful conquest of space.
With the safe recovery of Astronauts Lovell and Aldrin, we have successfully completed the last of the 12 flights planned for the Gemini program. We can be proud that every flight, from countdown to splashdown, was open to the eyes and ears of the world.
Ten times in this program of the last 20 months we have placed two men in orbit about the earth in the world's most advanced manned spacecraft. Ten times we have brought them safely home.
Today's flight was the culmination of a great team effort, stretching back to 1961, and directly involving more than 25,000 people in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, and other Government agencies; in the universities and other research centers; and in American industry.
Early in 1962, John Glenn made his historic orbital flight and America was in space. Now, nearly 5 years later, we have completed Gemini and we know that America is in space to stay.
Note: The statement was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 7:45 p.m., Tuesday, November 15, 1966, at the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Md.
Mr. Moyers also announced that upon completion of Gemini 12 the President had approved the promotion of Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, and that Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr., had been promoted to Navy captain, after his successful orbital flight as copilot of Gemini 7 in December 1965.
The statement and announcement were not made public in the form of a White House press release.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Following the Completion of the Final Flight in the Gemini Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238326