The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

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Gemini 9/“Angry Alligator” The Augmented Target
Docking Adapter (ATDA) seen from the Gemini 9 spacecraft,
20 m away. Failure of the protective cover to fully
separate prevented docking and led to the ATDA being
described by the Gemini 9 crew as an “angry alligator.”
NASA
The original mission was to have involved docking
with a GATV. However, when the GATV failed
to reach orbit, NASA decided to launch an Augmented
Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) instead
and rename the mission Gemini 9A. The ATDA was
launched on June 1, 1966. Two days later, Gemini
9A took off and rendezvoused with the ATDA on
the third orbit—only to find that a docking would be
impossible. The ATDA’s shroud had only partially
separated, prompting Stafford and Cernan to nickname
their target “the Angry Alligator.” Although
docking was out of the question, the crew successfully
completed several test maneuvers, including a
rendezvous using optical equipment only and a rendezvous
from above the ATDA rather than below as
on previous flights. These were important steps in
flight-testing proposed docking techniques between
the Apollo Command and Lunar Modules. Later in
the mission, Cernan went on a spacewalk—the second
of the American space program—leaving the
spacecraft manually without a maneuvering unit. He
spent 1 hour 46 minutes outside the capsule, tethered
by an umbilical line which he disparagingly
referred to as “the snake.” During the walk, Cernan
was supposed to have carried out the first test of a
thruster-powered Astronaut Maneuvering Unit
(AMU), stored in the Gemini 9A adapter section and
accessible only from outside the spacecraft. The
AMU, which had a self-contained life-support unit,
would have allowed Cernan to propel himself up to
45 m away from the spacecraft and back. However,
he had to work so hard to prepare and don the AMU
that his helmet’s faceplate fogged up, and, worse, as
he struggled with the AMU, Cernan accidentally
snagged an antenna on the capsule, which caused
several tears in the outer layer of his spacesuit. The
Sun beating down on these rips caused hot spots
and, together with the other problems, led to the
spacewalk being cut short and the AMU test abandoned.
Gemini 9A easily took the record for the
most accurate splashdown of the Gemini program—
just 1.5 km from its prime target.
Gemini 10
Crew
Command pilot: John Young
Pilot: Michael Collins
Highlights: docking, EVA, and two rendezvous
The second successful dual launch and docking with a
GATV. The latter was launched about 100 minutes
ahead of Gemini 10. Six hours later, the two vehicles
rendezvoused and docked; however, these maneuvers
used up more OAMS fuel than expected and forced a
revision of the flight plan. Several orbital and docking
training maneuvers were canceled, and Gemini 10
remained docked to the GATV for about 39 hours—
longer than originally scheduled. During this time,
two milestones were passed. At a mission-elapsed time
of 23 hours 24 minutes, the hatch was opened and
Collins stood up in his seat with his upper body
extending outside—the first “standup spacewalk” in
American space history. Collins was able to photograph
stars in ultraviolet light, only possible outside
Earth’s atmosphere, and took 22 shots of the southern
Milky Way using a 70-mm camera. Also, while the two
spacecraft were mated, the GATV’s thrusters were used
to boost the orbit of the vehicles to a height of 765
km—a record for manned altitude (broken, though, on
the next Gemini flight). The thrusters were then fired
in a series of six maneuvers to place the mated spacecraft
on a path to intercept the GATV used during the
Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 10 undocked from its own
GATV and about three hours later rendezvoused, but