Gemini 8

Docked at 5:14 p.m.

An Atlas-Agena launched the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle from Cape Kennedy at 9:00 a.m. EST on 16 March 1966; Gemini 8 followed at 11:41:02 a.m. carrying command pilot Neil Armstrong and pilot David Scott.

After nine orbital manoeuvres, Gemini 8 rendezvoused with the Agena and Armstrong docked at 5:14 p.m. EST on the fifth revolution, completing the first docking of two vehicles in space.

It was Armstrong, not Scott, who reported it to the ground: "Flight, we are docked."

Twenty-seven minutes later

The docked combination began rolling while the spacecraft were outside ground-communications coverage. The crew initially suspected the Agena, until Armstrong saw that Gemini's own maneuvering-fuel indication had fallen to 30 percent.

After undocking, Gemini 8 tumbled faster still, approaching one revolution per second. Armstrong shut down the Orbit Attitude and Maneuver System and used the separate reentry-control thrusters to stop the motion, consuming 75 percent of that reserve.

The rule that ended the flight

Mission rules required an immediate landing once the reentry-control system had been used. Scott's planned EVA, three further docking tests and most experiments were cancelled.

Gemini 8 splashed down in the western Pacific about 800 kilometres west of Okinawa after 10 hours 41 minutes 26 seconds, and Air Force pararescuers reached it within minutes. Postflight analysis found that an electrical short had left OAMS roll thruster number 8 open and firing continuously.