Docking — Gemini 8 and the Agena
Neil Armstrong docked with the Agena target vehicle today — the first docking in space — and then had to cut the mission short when Gemini 8 started spinning.
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A Normal Tuesday at Home
I haven't written a normal-day entry in a long time. Let me describe what a Tuesday in February 1966 looks like for a man who follows the space program from Ohio.
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Mission Control and the People Behind the Headsets
I've been thinking about the people in Houston I never see in the photographs. The astronauts get all the press, but Mission Control is the other half of every spaceflight.
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Two Ships, One Orbit — Gemini 6 and 7
Yesterday, two American spacecraft flew within a foot of each other in orbit. The same orbit, at the same time, separated by twelve inches.
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Two Ships in the Same Sky
Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 rendezvoused in orbit yesterday — two American spacecraft flying within a foot of each other, 185 miles above Earth. Nobody has ever done anything like this. The pilots waved at each other through their windows. I couldn't understand why I was so moved until Betty…
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Gemini 12 — The Last One
Gemini 12 splashed down today, and with it Gemini is done. Buzz Aldrin spent more than five hours outside and proved that productive EVA is possible.
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Why We Go Up and Come Down in Fire
Every spacecraft that comes home from space has to survive re-entry. The temperatures involved are extraordinary. Here's how the physics of it works.
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Gemini 5 Follow-Up: What Eight Days Teaches You
The medical results from the Gemini 5 eight-day mission are in and I've been reading the summaries. The human body changes in microgravity. Some of it is manageable. Some of it is alarming.
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Eight Days — Gemini 5
Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad just spent eight days in space. Eight days. The Moon and back takes about eight days.
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Mariner 4 Photographs Mars
Mariner 4 flew past Mars on July 14 and took 22 photographs. The first close-up images of another planet. Mars looks like the Moon.
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