Word: armstrong
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...docked," Armstrong reported exultantly, "and he's really a smoothie." "Oh, Roger, and congratulations," replied a communicator aboard the tracking ship Rose Knot below in the South Atlantic. "This is real good...
Fighting to regain stability, Armstrong took another emergency step. He began firing Gemini's re-entry attitude-control rockets, which are designed to be used only to position the capsule properly as it re-enters the atmosphere on its way back to earth. "We are regaining control of the spacecraft slowly," he reported. By the time Gemini was out over the Pacific, it was getting back on even keel, sailing serenely through space only a few miles away from the Agena, which had been re-stabilized by radioed commands from ground controllers. "O.K., relax," the Coastal Sentry controller advised...
...Steely Embrace. That dark news shadowed a day that had actually seen a considerable technical triumph. The most important part of the flight was the docking maneuver, and Armstrong and Scott were still in their first orbit when they began the complicated exercise in space navigation. By 4:21 p.m. E.S.T., during Gemini 8's third revolution over the Pacific, Armstrong reported: "Object in sight." There was the Agena, 76 miles ahead, its beacon flashing against the dark sky. After gradually closing the gap, Gemini 8 eased up and in front of the Agena, while swinging around so that...
...next 25 minutes, Armstrong and Scott electronically checked the Agena's complex systems. Assured that all was in order, they nudged to within five feet of the Agena's nose, close enough for them to read a small, lighted instrument panel over the target craft's docking cone. Using his maneuvering stick, Armstrong fired a brief burst from two of Gemini's 100-lb. thrusters. The gap between Agena and the spacecraft closed at about six inches per second, until the craft gently bumped its nose into the docking cone...
Then Gemini returned to docile perfection. Advised by Houston that they were to bring the spacecraft back to earth in an area 500 miles southeast of Okina wa, Armstrong and Scott fired their four 2,500-lb. retrorockets over Central Africa at 9:45 p.m. E.S.T. and skillfully guided Gemini 8 toward its splashdown...