Gemini 6A

Gemini VI-A
Gemini VI-A (foreground) and Gemini VII make the first rendezvous in orbit between two crewed spacecraft
Mission typeSpace rendezvous
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1965-104A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.1839
Mission duration1 day, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 24 seconds
Distance travelled694,415 kilometers (374,954 nautical miles)
Orbits completed16
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftGemini SC6
ManufacturerMcDonnell. Phrase m
Launch mass3,546 kilograms (7,818 lb)
Crew
Crew size2
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateDecember 15, 1965, 13:37:26 (1965-12-15UTC13:37:26Z) UTC
RocketTitan II GLV, s/n 62-12561
Launch siteCape Kennedy LC-19
End of mission
Recovered byUSS Wasp
Landing dateDecember 16, 1965, 15:28:50 (1965-12-16UTC15:28:51Z) UTC
Landing siteNorth Atlantic Ocean
23°35′N 67°50′W / 23.583°N 67.833°W / 23.583; -67.833
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude270 kilometers (150 nautical miles)
Apogee altitude274 kilometers (148 nautical miles)
Inclination28.9 degrees
Period89.95 minutes
EpochDecember 15, 1965[1]

(L-R) Stafford, Schirra

Gemini 6A (officially Gemini VI-A)[2] was a 1965 crewed United States spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission, flown by Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford, achieved the first crewed rendezvous with another spacecraft, its sister Gemini 7. Although the Soviet Union had twice previously launched simultaneous pairs of Vostok spacecraft, these established radio contact with each other, but they had no ability to adjust their orbits in order to rendezvous and came no closer than several kilometers of each other, while the Gemini 6 and 7 spacecraft came as close as one foot (30 cm) and could have docked had they been so equipped.

Gemini 6A was the fifth crewed Gemini flight, the 13th crewed American flight, and the 21st crewed spaceflight of all time (including two X-15 flights over 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles)).

  1. ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  2. ^ Hacker, Barton C.; Grimwood, James M. (September 1974). "Chapter 11 Pillars of Confidence". On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini. NASA History Series. Vol. SP-4203. NASA. p. 239. Archived from the original on 2010-01-13. Retrieved 2013-09-26. With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations.