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| A Gemini 10 cover from "Orbit Covers," featuring a launch day postmark. It is signed by Michael Collins and John Young, canceled in Cape Canaveral on the launch day, July 18, 1966. This cover originates from the personal collection of Michael Collins. - Heritage Auctions |
Gemini 10 (GT-10), launched on July 18, 1966, was the eighth manned flight of the Gemini program, featuring crew members John W. Young and Michael Collins. The mission aimed to achieve rendezvous and docking with an Agena Target Vehicle (ATV), as well as conduct an Extravehicular Activity (EVA). It also intended to dock with the ATV used in the Gemini 8 mission, which had lost battery power months earlier. This approach and docking would demonstrate the capability to rendezvous with a passive object. Additionally, it marked the first mission to fire the Agena's own rocket, enabling the crew to reach higher orbits.
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| Photo: The Gemini 10 crew, John Young and Michael Collins. |
Gemini 10 demonstrated that radiation at high altitudes posed no significant issues. After successfully docking with their Agena booster in low orbit, Young and Collins used it to ascend to an altitude of 412.4 nautical miles (763.8 km). Following their first Agena mission, they then executed a rendezvous with the abandoned Agena from the aborted Gemini 8 flight, marking the program's first double rendezvous. Without any onboard power in the second Agena, they completed this rendezvous using visual navigation—no radar was utilized. After connecting with the derelict Agena via a 50-foot (15 m) tether, Collins became the first person to approach another spacecraft in orbit. He retrieved a cosmic dust-collecting panel from the side of the Agena. However, while focusing on managing his tether, Collins' Hasselblad camera came loose and drifted away, preventing him from taking any photographs during the spacewalk.
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| Photo: John Young and Michael Collins reviewing the Gemini 10 flight plans for their upcoming spaceflight. Collins is set to conduct a 55-minute spacewalk during the mission. |
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| Photo: John Young and Michael Collins inspecting the equipment that will be used for conducting experiments during the Gemini 10 mission. |
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| A Gemini 10 official NASA cachet on a cover with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancellation dated July 18, 1966. It is signed by Michael Collins and John Young and originates from the personal collection of Michael Collins. - Heritage Auctions |
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| A cover featuring the launch of the Agena Target Vehicle, postmarked on July 18, 1966. It is signed by Agena System Engineer, Melvin F. Brooks.
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| John Young and Michael Collins secured in their Gemini 10 spacecraft as staff prepares for the launch. |
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| Photo: (Left) The launch of Gemini 10. (Right) An illustration depicting the three-day orbital voyage of Gemini 10. |
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| A Gemini 10 cover from "SpaceCraft Swanson," signed by Michael Collins and John Young, canceled at Patrick Air Force Base on launch day, July 18, 1966. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: The diagram illustrates the key operations that Gemini 10 and Agena 10 have performed during their mission. The Gemini and Agena successfully docked early in the flight, and then, with a powerful engine burn, the combined spacecraft ascended to a new altitude record of 476 miles. |
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| Two "Gemini 10 Recovery" covers from the USS Guadalcanal recovery ship, postmarked on July 21, 1966. The bottom cover features autopen signatures of Michael Collins and John Young. |
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| John Young and Michael Collins being hoisted from the life raft into the recovery helicopter for transfer to the USS Guadalcanal recovery ship. |
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| A USS Guadalcanal crew cover featuring a Beck rubber-stamped cachet, mailed from the ship on July 21, 1966. |
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| Photo: John Young and Michael Collins aboard the USS Guadalcanal. |
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| A Beck printed cachet cover B671 was originally intended for the USS Severn, but this particular cover was sent to the USS Guadalcanal. |
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| Photo: John Young signs a life preserver for a sailor on the recovery ship Guadalcanal. |
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| A Gemini 10 USS Guadalcanal cover featuring a printed "United States Aircraft Carrier" cachet and a Beck rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked on July 21, 1966. |
(Reference from
Gemini 10)
