The Explorers' Club, № DCCCIV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 55th Anniversary of Gemini VIII
16-17 March 1966: Gemini VIII lifted off from Florida's Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, carrying Command Pilot Neil Armstrong & Pilot Dave Scott aboard a Gemini spacecraft atop a Titan II G.L.V. rocket; they achieved the first docking in space, with an Agena; a thruster malfunction caused the spacecraft to tumble rapidly & triggered an emergency reentry; they splashed down in the Pacific.

Commentary: Gemini VIII was N.A.S.A.'s most perilous emergency in space until Apollo 13 in 1970. Gemini VIII was originally intended to land in the Atlantic after three days, but the emergency forced a landing in the Pacific after only eleven hours. U.S.A.F. Pararescuemen were the first to reach the spacecraft, which bobbed in the ocean for three hours until the arrival of the recovery ship U.S.S. Leonard F. Mason. Armstrong's & Scott's cool, methodical response to the out of control spin, which occurred while they were out of radio contact with Mission Control, was a factor in Armstrong being selected to command Apollo 11, the first Moon landing, & Scott being selected to command Apollo 15, the fourth Moon landing.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: Gemini VIII
The Spinners, "The Rubberband Man" from Happiness Is Being with the Spinners (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.