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| A GT-9 launch cover from "Centennial", postmarked at Cape Canaveral (AM time slug) with a hand cancel on June 1, 1966. The launch was scrubbed following a ground-equipment failure after the successful launch of the ATDA target. |
The June 1, 1966 launch attempt was the second attempt to get the Gemini 9 mission underway, following the loss of the original Agena target on May 17. NASA had substituted an Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) as the rendezvous target. The ATDA was successfully launched from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Kennedy at 10:00 a.m. EST, reaching a near-circular orbit.
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| Photo: Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford leave their Titan rocket at Cape Kennedy after the Gemini 9 launch was scrubbed due to last-minute equipment problems. |
However, the Gemini 9 spacecraft could not launch as planned. About one hour and 40 minutes after the ATDA launch, a ground-equipment failure prevented updated targeting information from being transferred from the Cape Kennedy Mission Control Center to the spacecraft computer. With the launch window no longer available, NASA scrubbed the Gemini launch and recycled the mission for another attempt on June 3.
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| A GT-9 launch cover featuring a "GT-9 Launch Postponed" stamped cachet, postmarked at Cape Canaveral (PM time slug) with a hand cancel on June 1, 1966. |
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| A GT-9 launch cover from "Sarzin", postmarked at Patrick Air Force Base with a machine postmark on June 1, 1966. |
