Launch of Gemini 3. Carried on top of a Titan I rocket, Gemini 3 was launched on 23 March 1965 into a 3-orbit demonstration flight crewed by John Young and Virgil 'Gus' Grissom. Gemini 3 carried the first computer into space, its 7000 operations per second capability allowing in-flight orbital changes to be calculated. Gemini 3 was the first manned craft to intentionally change its orbit. John Young was the seventh American into space, performing a career total of six space flights. Grissom was the second US astronaut, and was tragically killed in a launchpad fire on 27 January 1967 during part of the Apollo programme.