Word: stafford
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Costly Rendezvous. Eager to proceed with the planned docking of Gemini and ATDA, Stafford quickly suggested a solution: to nudge the obstructing shroud out of the way by flying up and hitting it gently with Gemini's docking bar. Safety-conscious controllers in Houston vetoed the scheme, instead electronically commanded ATDA's movable docking collar to extend and contract, in a vain try to shake the shroud loose. Another idea was to allow Astronaut Cernan to pry or cut the shroud loose during his scheduled space walk; this was also rejected for fear that the sharp edges might...
Twice the launch had been scrubbed, once on May 17 when the Agena target failed to orbit, and again earlier in the week when Gemini 9's on-board computer rejected vital data three minutes before liftoff. Now, for the third time, Astronauts Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan wearily returned to the pad at Cape Kennedy for a mission that had the earmarks of a rueful joke...
...were kidding before, But not any more. Get your-er-selves into space Or we'll take your place. Stafford and Cernan themselves wryly presented the launch crew with a yard-long red and white baton topped by a light bulb. It was a match, they explained, that the crew was to use to achieve a successful "burn...
...first, the humorous approach seemed to work. The giant Titan 2 rocket rose on schedule from the launch pad and placed Gemini 9 in an almost perfect orbit. Then, after only three revolutions around the earth, Stafford and Cernan sighted and successfully rendezvoused with their quarry-the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) that had been launched into or bit two days before. But there before their eyes was another disappointment...
...atmosphere had failed to separate and spring away. Rolling through space, the target presented an astonishing sight. The two shroud "clamshells" were still attached by wires but had swung open at a 30° angle like a giant jaw. "We've got a weird-looking machine here," Stafford reported. "It looks like an angry alligator out here rotating around...