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  Remembering Gemini 8: March 16, 1966

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Author Topic:   Remembering Gemini 8: March 16, 1966
Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1739
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 03-15-2016 12:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
C-SPAN 3 showed this NASA film on Gemini-Titan 8. Did anyone else see it?
This NASA film chronicles the sixth manned Gemini mission, which was the first to dock with another craft in space. An emergency forced the cancellation of other activities and the capsule splashed down 10 hours after the March 16, 1966, launch, cutting short the planned three day mission in order to save the lives of the two-person crew.

Ian Limbrey
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From: England
Registered: Nov 2012

posted 03-15-2016 03:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ian Limbrey   Click Here to Email Ian Limbrey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This mission proved that the crew had the "right stuff" to survive the critical situation that they were in! But what I found amazing and incredibly modest was that Dave Scott has always stated that the reason he survived Gemini 8 was because he was flying with Neil Armstrong!

mach3valkyrie
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From: Albany, Oregon
Registered: Jul 2006

posted 03-15-2016 03:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mach3valkyrie   Click Here to Email mach3valkyrie     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Fra Mauro:
Did anyone else see it?
I happened to be channel surfing and came across it. I was surprised.

I've had it on DVD and videotape for a long time, but I always enjoy seeing it. Some of the best launch views of any NASA produced program, especially from the airborne tracking camera.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 03-16-2016 01:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
'Flight, we are docked!' Gemini 8 achieved first space docking 50 years ago

Before Neil Armstrong and David Scott made history walking on the moon, they set another record on board one of NASA's most dramatic space missions, 50 years ago today (March 16).

The future first and seventh moonwalkers were paired up as the crew of Gemini 8, the first spaceflight to accomplish a docking between two vehicles in orbit.

"Flight, we are docked!" reported Armstrong, seconds after piloting the Gemini capsule to a link up with an unmanned target vehicle. "It's really a smoothie."

onesmallstep
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Posts: 1327
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 03-16-2016 10:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for onesmallstep   Click Here to Email onesmallstep     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Also worth noting in the above article is that Dave Scott not only conducted a rendezvous with the Apollo 15 CM Endeavour while flying up on the LM Falcon, but he was CMP on Apollo 9 and rendezvoused with the LM Spider in Earth orbit.

Scott and John Young are the only Apollo astronauts to pilot both types of spacecraft during a rendezvous and docking.

mach3valkyrie
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Posts: 729
From: Albany, Oregon
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posted 03-16-2016 01:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mach3valkyrie   Click Here to Email mach3valkyrie     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Good point.

Lunar Module 5
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From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 03-16-2016 04:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lunar Module 5   Click Here to Email Lunar Module 5     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I am currently working on this flight, first part completed:

Larry McGlynn
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From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 03-16-2016 08:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Larry McGlynn   Click Here to Email Larry McGlynn     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Talked with Dave Scott yesterday. He is taking his wife out to dinner tonight and is having a tall one in a toast to Neil, who got him home.

NASA estimated that if they hadn't recovered, then the GT-8 spacecraft would have remained in orbit for 19 years before reentry.

Space Cadet Carl
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Posts: 277
From: Lake Orion, MI
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 03-17-2016 07:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I just watched the film footage of the spin and undocking from the Agena. I wonder how close Armstrong and Scott came to colliding with the Agena in the first couple seconds after undocking.

The big back end of that Gemini must have swung around backwards immediately after they released the latches and I'll bet the equipment module wasn't that far away from smacking into the Agena.

Fifty years later, it still makes me nervous watching it.

schnappsicle
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Posts: 406
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012

posted 03-17-2016 11:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for schnappsicle   Click Here to Email schnappsicle     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was in the first grade living in Germany when the Mercury missions took place. I didn't know anything about them until several years after the fact. We moved to Florida in December, 1963. The first manned mission that I can remember is Gemini 4. What I remember most about it was all the talk before the mission about Ed White going outside. When I saw the photos in Life magazine a few weeks later, I officially became a space junkie.

I must have slept through the Gemini 5 mission because I don't remember anything about it at all.

I do remember the Gemini 7/6 missions. Again, the photos in Life made me feel as if I was there. Interestingly enough, Gemini 6 was the only manned launch I ever saw. I was living in Tampa at the time. I was walking to school that morning and took a turn down a short street that faced east. I was looking right into a beautiful sunrise when I noticed there was something moving upward just to the left of the sun. After staring at it for a few seconds, I realized it was Gemini 6 taking off to meet up with Gemini 7.

What I remember most about Gemini 8 was coming home from school that day and going outside. A few hours later, my father, who was in the Air Force, came home from work. Instead of eating supper at the table, he parked himself in front of the TV and started watching coverage of what was happening to Gemini 8. He was glued to the TV that entire night. He didn't go to bed until the announcement came that the crew was safely aboard the recovery ship.

While the photos in Life turned me into a junkie, it was watching my father watching coverage of Gemini 8 that finally put the hook in my mouth and landed me firmly on the distant shores of space travel. At the time, I had no idea who Armstrong or Scott were, but I became just as concerned for their safety as my father was. I also breathed a huge sigh of relief when they returned safely back to earth.

After reflecting on the flight of Gemini 8 for 50 years now, I can safely say that I appreciate what they were able to accomplish more now than ever before. Not so much the docking, although that was a huge step in getting us to the moon, but the fact that they came within seconds of blacking out. I didn't know they were already getting tunnel vision until I read about it in my books.

I can't imagine anyone being more humble after becoming the first man on the moon than Armstrong was. He was the perfect man to command that flight. I also can't imagine Apollo 15 being as successful as it was without Scott sitting in the left seat. His dedication to science during that flight awakened a curiosity and interest in me that lingers to this day.

The first man to walk on the moon and the first man to drive on the moon both on the same flight. How cool is that!!!

NukeGuy
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From: Irvine, CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 03-17-2016 02:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NukeGuy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Many younger television viewers were upset that the Gemini 8 TV coverage pre-empted a new series called "Batman" or something like that.

Headshot
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From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 03-22-2016 10:24 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just a little additional info about the Batman aspect of Gemini 8.

Batman premiered in Jan 1966 and was an instant hit. It had a unusual format in that each week featured a two-part episode that ran on consecutive nights. The episode that ran on March 16, 1966 was the first to feature Catwoman as played by Julie Newmar. The episode was so butchered, by news bulletins discussing Gemini 8's plight, as to be not comprehensible. Most complaints, and there were a LOT of them, were written by middle-aged adults. My favorite, from a housewife, stated, “Batman was interrupted three times for that space thing. Nothing is so important that is worth doing that!”

Wonder how she felt about Apollo 13?

Lunar Module 5
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From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 04-07-2016 02:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lunar Module 5   Click Here to Email Lunar Module 5     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Part 2 available...

bknight
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Posts: 9
From: Houston, Texas, USA
Registered: Dec 2015

posted 04-12-2016 11:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for bknight   Click Here to Email bknight     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by schnappsicle:
I must have slept through the Gemini 5 mission because I don't remember anything about it at all.
I remember that mission well as the U.S. took the lead in longest manned mission and I believe the first use of fuel cells.

Lunar Module 5
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Posts: 370
From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 04-15-2016 06:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lunar Module 5   Click Here to Email Lunar Module 5     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Part 3 of 4 now available to view...

I hope some of you like the content.

Ronpur
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Posts: 1250
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012

posted 04-15-2016 07:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ronpur   Click Here to Email Ronpur     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I am loving it!

Lunar Module 5
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Posts: 370
From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 07-13-2016 02:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lunar Module 5   Click Here to Email Lunar Module 5     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The last part is available. Regards to all who watch.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-16-2021 06:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From the Armstrong Air & Space Museum (via Facebook):
This year marks the 55th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and David Scott's Gemini 8 mission! To celebrate the incredible achievements of this mission, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum will be providing unique content, stories, and a Facebook Live event on the actual anniversary, March 16th.

And of course, stop in, learn about the mission, and see the actual Gemini 8 capsule, located in the museum's Early Space Gallery!

Space Cadet Carl
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Posts: 277
From: Lake Orion, MI
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 02-18-2021 05:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Again, when the first news bulletins came on in the early evening, we knew something really serious had happened. But it wasn't until we later saw the onboard film footage that we knew how close to catastrophe they were.

Lou Chinal
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Posts: 1371
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 03-16-2021 11:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Lou Chinal   Click Here to Email Lou Chinal     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was sitting in high school 55 years ago in Brooklyn N.Y. It was a history class as I remember. A fellow student listing on a radio suddenly cried out "They're docked." Yes it was history all right.

SpaceAholic
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Posts: 5000
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-14-2021 10:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From Smithsonian Magazine: Gemini VIII's Near-Disaster
Fifty-five years ago, on March 16, 1966, the Gemini VIII astronauts made the world's first space docking, quickly followed by the first life-threatening, in-flight emergency in the short history of the U.S. human spaceflight program.

Philip
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From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 04-19-2021 08:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
During Gemini VIII, Neil Armstrong wore a large Wittnauer-Weems aviator big crown wristwatch strapped over his right forearm. This aviator watch belonged to his childhood hero, aviator James "Jimmie" Mattern.

Later during Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong carried James Mattern's pilot license onboard the historic moon landing mission!

Space Cadet Carl
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Posts: 277
From: Lake Orion, MI
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 04-20-2021 05:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Space Cadet Carl   Click Here to Email Space Cadet Carl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I just read Mattern's Wikipedia bio page. That's exactly the kind of person Neil Armstrong would have loved.

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