Gemini VIII
Gemini spacecraft
Vehicle and mission dossier
Gemini VIII
Gemini 8 carried Neil Armstrong and David Scott to the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. After a precise with the Agena target, Armstrong joined the vehicles, but an electrical short left a Gemini thruster firing and the combined stack began to roll. The crew undocked, discovered that the tumble was in their own spacecraft, and used the -control system to stop rotation approaching one revolution per second. Mission rules required an immediate return, so planned Agena maneuvers and Scott's were canceled, but the safe emergency recovery turned a failed flight plan into a defining test of spacecraft diagnosis and crew judgment.
Flight profile
- Flight date
- March 16, 1966
- Mission duration
- 10 hours, 41 minutes, 26 seconds
- Orbits
- 7
Places and recovery
Vehicle record
- Manufacturer
- McDonnell
- Status
- Recovered after emergency
- Mission type
- Crewed rendezvous, docking, and emergency-recovery mission
- Program
- Project Gemini
- Crew complement
- 2
- Backup crew
- Charles Conrad Jr. and Richard F. Gordon Jr.
- Program milestone
- First docking of two spacecraft in orbit
- Emergency cause
- Electrical short left Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System thruster No. 8 firing
- Outcome
- Docking completed; mission aborted after successful tumble recovery
Flight objectives
- and dock with the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle during the fourth orbit.
- Use the Agena propulsion system while docked and practice repeated docking, undocking, and proximity operations.
- Conduct David Scott's planned to retrieve experiments and evaluate external work procedures.
- Complete scientific and engineering experiments, then perform guided and recovery after three days.
Flight timeline
- March 16, 1966Gemini 8 catches and docks with its AgenaArmstrong and Scott complete the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit after a precise four-orbit .
- About 27 minutes after dockingThe joined vehicles begin an unexplained rollThe crew shuts down Agena controls and undocks, but Gemini's rotation accelerates, revealing that the fault is aboard the crewed spacecraft.
- Emergency thrusters stop a near one-revolution-per-second tumbleArmstrong disables the main attitude system and Scott activates the independent reentry-control thrusters, regaining control before the crew loses consciousness.
- March 16, 1966Emergency Pacific recovery ends the abbreviated flightUse of the reentry system requires an immediate abort; Gemini 8 lands in a secondary recovery zone and both astronauts return safely.
People Who Flew Aboard This Spacecraft
Photo Archive
Documented views of this individual vehicle, with source and credit retained alongside each image.