On this day in space: March 16, 1966: Gemini 8 achieves first space docking

On March 16, 1966, the crewed Gemini 8 spacecraft became the first to dock with another spacecraft in space.

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Lockheed's Agena docking target vehicle, as developed in part by Mary Golda Ross, seen from the Gemini 8 spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA)

Then the problems started. The joined spacecraft started to tumble out of control. Assuming the problem had to do with the Agena target vehicle, they decided to undock.

But shedding the extra weight actually made the Gemini spacecraft spin even faster, and it was rotating at one revolution per second. This made the astronauts pretty dizzy, but they still managed to safely execute an emergency landing.

How NASA's Gemini Spacecraft Worked (Infographic)

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.

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