Agena as seen from Gemini VIII during rendezvous in space. | Photo Credit:
NASA
Gemini VIII, launched on March 16, 1966 and carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott, was the first spacecraft to achieve docking with an uncrewed spacecraft in Earth orbit. This success, however, was quickly tempered as the astronauts were confronted with an in-flight emergency. A.S.Ganesh takes a look at the first such docking that soon turned into a wild ride in orbit.
Neil Armstrong’s name will forever be enshrined in the annals of human spaceflight as the first person to land on the moon and walk on the lunar surface as space commander of the Apollo 11 mission of 1969. The Apollo 11 mission, however, wasn’t the first time Armstrong went to space. Armstrong was also part of the Gemini VIII mission that was equally eventful.