Gemini VI Recovery Operations

Creator

Southwestern Oklahoma State University
NASA

Preview

Creation Date

12-16-1965

Description

December 16, 1965

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. – Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., (right), command pilot, and Thomas P. Stafford, pilot, joyfully climb from their Gemini 6 spacecraft as they arrive aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp to conclude their 25 hour 52 minute space flight. Their Gemini 6 spacecraft splashed down in the western Atlantic recovery area at 10:29 a.m. (EST), December 16, 1965, after a highly successful rendezvous mission in space. Not only was Gemini 6 able to catch up with Gemini 7, but the two spacecrafts flew together in close formation for some distance. Only 5-10 feet separated Schirra and Stafford from Astronaut Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., in the Gemini 7. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has scheduled Gemini 7 as a 14-day mission in space.