1966-07-18 USA Gemini 10

1966 GT-10 Orbit Covers cachet cover with launch day postmark. Signed by Michael Collins and John Young. Canceled in Cape Canaveral on launch day July 18, 1966. This cover was from the personal collection of Michael Collins. - Heritage Auctions
Gemini 10 (GT-10), launched on July 18, 1966, was the eighth Gemini manned flight crewed by John W. Young and Michael Collins. It was designed to achieve rendezvous and docking with an Agena Target Vehicle (ATV), and EVA. It was also planned to dock with the ATV from the Gemini 8 mission. This Agena's battery power had failed months earlier, and an approach and docking would demonstrate the ability to rendezvous with a passive object. It would be also the first mission to fire the Agena's own rocket, allowing them to reach higher orbits.

Photo: Gemini 10 crew, John Young and Michael Collins.
Gemini 10 established that radiation at high altitude was not a problem. After docking with their Agena booster in low orbit, Young and Collins used it to climb temporarily to 412.4 nautical miles (763.8 km). After leaving the first Agena, they then rendezvoused with the derelict Agena left over from the aborted Gemini 8 flight—thus executing the program's first double rendezvous. With no electricity on board the second Agena, the rendezvous was accomplished with eyes only—no radar. After the rendezvous, Collins spacewalked over to the dormant Agena at the end of a 50-foot (15 m) tether, making him the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit. Collins then retrieved a cosmic dust-collecting panel from the side of the Agena. As he was concentrating on keeping his tether clear of the Gemini and Agena, Collins' Hasselblad camera worked itself free and drifted away, so he was unable to take photographs during the spacewalk.

Photo: John Young and Michael Collins reviewing flight plans of their upcoming spaceflight, July 14, 1966
Photo: John Young and Michael Collins checking equipment to be used in conducting experiments during the Gemini 10 mission, July 16, 1966.
Gemini 10 official NASA cachet on cover with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancel, July 18, 1966. Signed by Michael Collins and John Young. This cover was from the personal collection of Michael Collins. - Heritage Auctions
Photo: John Young and Michael Collins locked in their Gemini 10 spacecraft while staff preparing for the launch on July 18, 1966.
Photo: Launch of Gemini 10.
Launch of the Agena Target Vehicle on July 18, 1966. Signed by Agena System Engineer, Melvin F. Brooks.
Gemini 10 SpaceCraft Swanson cachet cover with launch day postmark. Signed by Michael Collins and John Young. Canceled in Patrick Air Force Base on launch day July 18, 1966. - RRAuction
Photo: "FLYING HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME - Diagram shows the major operations Gemini 10 and Agena 10 have undergone so far in their flight. The Gemini and Agena docked early in the flight, then with a fiery blast of its engine, the double space craft soared to a new altitude record of 476 miles. AP. July 19, 1966."
Photo: John Young and Michael Collins hoisted from the life raft to the recovery helicopter.
Gemini 10 Captain's cover, postmarked USS Guadalcanal, July 21, 1966. Autopen signatures Michael Collins and John Young.
Photo: John Young and Michael Collins onboard USS Guadalcanal, July 21, 1966.
Beck printed cachet cover B671 was meant for USS Severn, but this one went to USS Guadalcanal.
Photo: "Gemini 10 Command Pilot John W. Young autographs a life preserver for an unidentified sailor aboard the recovery ship Guadalcanal while space walker Michael Collins gestures at right. The two men flew to Cape Kennedy today. AP Wirephoto. July 22, 1966."
Gemini 10 USS Guadalcanal cover with a printed US Aircraft Carrier cachet and a Beck stamped recovery ship cachet, postmarked on July 21, 1966.
(Reference from Gemini 10)