Gemini 3 was the first crewed flight of NASA’s Gemini program.
Launched on 23 March 1965, Gemini 3 carried astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young aboard the spacecraft Molly Brown. The mission lasted 4 hours, 52 minutes, and completed three orbits of Earth. It demonstrated that a crewed Gemini spacecraft could be controlled and maneuvered in orbit.
Gemini 3 was also the first crewed American spaceflight to perform an orbital change using an onboard propulsion system. Young became the first person to eat a corned-beef sandwich in space during the flight, an unscheduled event that briefly raised concerns about crumbs inside the spacecraft.
Gemini 3 was not the mission that achieved the first American spacewalk, rendezvous, or docking. Those milestones came on later Gemini flights, including Gemini 4, Gemini 6A, and Gemini 8. The mission was originally called Gemini-Titan 3 because it launched on a Titan II rocket.