Gemini 6A

Gemini VI-A

Gemini VI-A (foreground) and Gemini VII make the first rendezvous in orbit between two crewed spacecraft
Mission type	Space rendezvous
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1965-104A
SATCAT no.	1839
Mission duration	1 day, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 24 seconds
Distance travelled	694,415 kilometers (374,954 nautical miles)
Orbits completed	16
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Gemini SC6
Manufacturer	McDonnell. Phrase m
Launch mass	3,546 kilograms (7,818 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2
Members	Walter M. Schirra Jr. Thomas P. Stafford
Start of mission
Launch date	December 15, 1965, 13:37:26 (1965-12-15UTC13:37:26Z) UTC
Rocket	Titan II GLV, s/n 62-12561
Launch site	Cape Kennedy LC-19
End of mission
Recovered by	USS Wasp
Landing date	December 16, 1965, 15:28:50 (1965-12-16UTC15:28:51Z) UTC
Landing site	North Atlantic Ocean 23°35′N 67°50′W / 23.583°N 67.833°W / 23.583; -67.833
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	270 kilometers (150 nautical miles)
Apogee altitude	274 kilometers (148 nautical miles)
Inclination	28.9 degrees
Period	89.95 minutes
Epoch	December 15, 1965[1]
(L-R) Stafford, Schirra Project Gemini ← Gemini 7 Gemini 8 →

Gemini 6A (officially Gemini VI-A)^[2] was a 1965 crewed United States spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission, flown by Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford, achieved the first crewed rendezvous with another spacecraft, its sister Gemini 7. Although the Soviet Union had twice previously launched simultaneous pairs of Vostok spacecraft, these established radio contact with each other, but they had no ability to adjust their orbits in order to rendezvous and came no closer than several kilometers of each other, while the Gemini 6 and 7 spacecraft came as close as one foot (30 cm) and could have docked had they been so equipped.

Gemini 6A was the fifth crewed Gemini flight, the 13th crewed American flight, and the 21st crewed spaceflight of all time (including two X-15 flights over 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles)).