Forty-five years ago today — July 18, 1966 — John W. Young and Michael Collins launched from Cape Canaveral on the Gemini-10 mission.
(Agena target vehicle as photographed from the Gemini-10 capsule. NASA image.)
Gemini-10 featured the first dual space rendezvous: Young and Collins rendezvoused with two target vehicles, Agena-10 and then Agena-8. In fact, Gemini-10 first docked with Agena-10, and then the astronauts moved the entire dual-spacecraft assembly into the orbital rendezvous with Agena-8.
One of the flight objectives was to retrieve experiment packages from the two Agena vehicles. The spacewalk was “limited to 25 minutes of outside activity due to lack of fuel,” and did not go exactly as planned:
Despite difficulties due to lack of handholds on the target vehicle Collins removed the fairing and retrieved the micrometeoroid detection equipment. During the EVA he lost his camera. He also retrieved the micrometeorite experiment mounted on the Gemini 10 spacecraft, but this apparently floated out of the hatch and was lost when Collins reentered the capsule.
Overall, though, the Gemini-10 mission was successful: Young and Collins splashed down on July 21st, having completed another step in the pathfinder checklist on the way to the Moon.
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