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| A Gemini 9 cover from "Orbit Covers," featuring a launch day postmark dated June 3, 1966. It is signed by Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford. |
Gemini 9A (GT-9A), launched on June 3, 1966, was the seventh crewed flight in the Gemini program, featuring Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan. The original crew, command pilot Elliot See and pilot Charles Bassett, tragically died in a crash on February 28, 1966, while en route to the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, Missouri, to inspect their spacecraft. This led to Stafford and Cernan being promoted from the backup crew to the primary crew. The mission was renamed Gemini 9A after the initial launch on May 17 was canceled due to the destruction of the Agena Target Vehicle in a launch failure. The mission took place from June 3 to 6, 1966, following the launch of the backup Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA). While Stafford and Cernan successfully rendezvoused with the ATDA, they were unable to dock because the nose fairing failed to eject due to a launch preparation error. Cernan conducted a two-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) during which he was supposed to demonstrate free flight using the USAF Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. However, he was unable to do so because of stress, fatigue, and overheating.
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| Photo: Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford during a news conference. |
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| A Gemini 9 official NASA cachet on a cover featuring a Kennedy Space Center machine cancellation, signed by Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. |
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| Photo: During the third attempt to launch Gemini 9, Tom Stafford humorously presented the closeout crew with a meter-long imitation match to "get the rocket off the pad." He joked that "Frank (Borman) and Jim (Lovell) may have more flight time," referring to his backup’s two weeks aboard Gemini 7, "but no one has more pad time in Gemini than I do." |
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| Photo: The Gemini crew at the Mission Control Center on the first day of the Gemini 9 flight, June 3, 1966. From left to right: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, James Lovell, and Richard Gordon. |
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| A Gemini 9 official NASA cachet on a cover featuring a Kennedy Space Center hand cancellation. |
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| A Gemini 9 NASA cachet proof (in maroon) on a cover postmarked at Cape Canaveral on the launch day, June 3, 1966. |
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| Photo: The rendezvous with the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) showed it slowly rotating, with the conical nose shroud still attached, resembling a giant, open jaw. As they got closer, Stafford commented, "It looks like an angry alligator out here rotating around." |
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| Photo: Navy helicopters hovered above astronauts Eugene Cernan (left) and Thomas Stafford after they landed the Gemini 9 spacecraft in the Atlantic ocean. Shortly after this picture was taken, a helicopter picked up the capsule and transported it, along with the astronauts, to the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. |
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| Gemini 9 USS Wasp Captain's covers displayed in two envelope sizes, both postmarked on June 6, 1966. |
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| Photo: Eugene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and their spacecraft on the deck of the USS Wasp. |
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| A Gemini 9 USS Wasp recovery ship cover featuring a Beck rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked on June 6, 1966, and signed by Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. |
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| A Gemini 9 USS Wasp recovery ship cover featuring a printed "United States Aircraft Carrier" cachet along with a Beck rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked on June 6, 1966. |
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| Beck printed cachet covers B651 and B657 were meant for the USS Wasp; however, some B652, B655 and B656 with USS Wasp cancellations have also been observed. |
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| Photo: Astronauts from the Gemini 9 mission experienced a classic mode of transportation while riding a stagecoach in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Eugene Cernan waved as he traveled alongside Tom Stafford, with their driver, Clarence McKenzie, taking them to the Cowboy Hall of Fame building. |
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| Photo: During a news conference on June 17, 1966, Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan narrated the film they made in space featuring the "angry alligator" they rendezvoused with. |
(Reference from
The Angry Alligator & The Snake: The Mission of Gemini 9)
