Gemini VI Recovery Operations

Creator

Southwestern Oklahoma State University
NASA

Preview

Creation Date

12-16-1965

Description

December 16, 1965

CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. –Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr., (leading), command pilot, and Thomas P. Stafford, pilot, are warmly greeted during red carpet welcome after they arrived 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.