Gemini 8
Gemini VIII docks with its Agena Target Vehicle
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| Mission type | Docking test |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1966-020A |
| SATCAT no. | 2105 |
| Mission duration | 10 hours, 41 minutes, 26 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 293,206 kilometers (158,319 nautical miles) |
| Orbits completed | 6 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Gemini SC8 |
| Manufacturer | McDonnell |
| Launch mass | 3,789 kilograms (8,353 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Members |
Neil A. Armstrong David R. Scott |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | March 16, 1966, 16:41:02 UTC |
| Rocket | Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12563 |
| Launch site | Cape Kennedy LC-19 |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | USS Leonard F. Mason |
| Landing date | March 17, 1966, 03:22:28 UTC |
| Landing site | 25°13.8′N 136°0′E / 25.2300°N 136.000°E |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee | 261 kilometers (141 nmi) |
| Apogee | 270 kilometers (150 nmi) |
| Inclination | 28.9 degrees |
| Period | 89.81 minutes |
| Epoch | March 16, 1966 |
| Docking with GATV-5003 | |
| Docking date | March 16, 1966, 22:14 UTC |
| Undocking date | March 16, 1966, ~22:45 UTC |
| Time docked | ~30 minutes |
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 (L-R) Scott, Armstrong |
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Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) was the sixth manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required immediate abort of the mission. The crew was returned to Earth safely. The only other time this happened was on the flight of Apollo 13.
It was the twelfth manned American flight and the twenty-second manned spaceflight of all time (including X-15 flights over 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles)). Command pilot Neil Armstrong's flight marked the second time a U.S. civilian flew into space (Joseph Albert Walker became the first U.S. civilian on X-15 Flight 90). Armstrong had resigned his commission in the United States Naval Reserve in 1960. The Soviet Union had launched the first civilian, Valentina Tereshkova (also the first woman), aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.
This would become the prime crew on Gemini 11.
March 16, 1966
Gemini VIII was planned to be a three-day mission. After being launched into an 87-by-146-nautical-mile (161 by 270 km) orbit, on the fourth revolution it was to rendezvous and dock with an Agena target vehicle, which had been earlier launched into a 161-nautical-mile (298 km) circular orbit. This was to be the first space docking in history. A total of four separate dockings were planned.
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