This Week in Rocket History we have another historic mission as well as the birthdate of an important astronaut.

On March 16, 1966, at 15:00 UTC, an uncrewed Atlas Agena was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida with a Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle, also known as GATV. It was followed 101 minutes later by a Titan II Gemini Launch Vehicle, a specialized version of the Titan II ICBM, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott onboard Gemini 8.

Gemini 8 chased down the Agena, and performed nine different maneuvers over a period of six hours, eventually bringing it to within 45 meters of the uncrewed Agena. After another hour of tests and inspections, the astronauts performed their final maneuver and completed the first ever docking of two spacecraft in orbit.

The original mission plan was to perform four different dockings and multiple tests including a spacewalk, but 27 minutes after the first docking, both crafts started unexpectedly tumbling on all axes. The astronauts suspected the issue might be coming from the Agena, so Scott disengaged the capsule from the GATV, and Armstrong maneuvered the Gemini away from the Agena, but they were still spinning, and it was getting worse. This indicated that the issue must have come from Gemini itself.

As Gemini 8 tumbled at speeds exceeding one revolution per second, the astronauts were close to blacking out and didn’t have a lot of time to react. They quickly deactivated the automated maneuvering system and attempted to counteract the violent motion of the spacecraft using their re-entry reaction control systems thrusters, eventually managing to stop the roll and stabilize the spacecraft.

Safety protocols for the mission dictated that once the re-entry reaction control systems thrusters were engaged, the crew had to end the mission and come back to Earth immediately. This meant that any further tests and the planned EVA were cancelled. After another orbit, the capsule fired its retro-rockets and deorbited into the Pacific Ocean. USAF Frogmen parachuted out of a C-54 near the splashdown site to put flotation devices around the capsule and make sure the astronauts were safe until they were picked up by the U.S.S. Mason some three hours later.

Post-flight investigations determined that the unexpected roll was caused by one of the roll thrusters firing continuously, but the investigation could not determine what caused the thruster to begin firing in the first place. It did, however, prompt NASA to add a dedicated kill switch for each element of the capsule in follow-up missions.

Neil Armstrong would go on to command the first crewed lunar landing, Apollo 11. David Scott made it to the lunar surface as well, commanding Apollo 15 and driving the first Lunar Roving Vehicle.

March 16th also marks the birth date of Vladimir Komarov. Born in 1927, he was selected as part of the first group of Soviet cosmonauts in 1960, but a heart condition prevented him from being cleared to fly into space until Voskhod 1 in October 1964.

Voskhod 1’s goal: fly a three-person crew in a capsule before the Americans could. The Voskhod used the same basic spacecraft as the single person Vostok, so it was a tight fit with three crew members. To make room in the craft, the backup deorbit motor was removed, and the cosmonauts went without pressure suits. During their time in space, the crew was able to learn how to perform operations in a multiple crew spacecraft, observed the Earth from orbit, and recorded how the human body responded to weightlessness. The crew returned to Earth after one day in orbit.

Komarov’s other mission was Soyuz 1, the first crewed flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. Unlike the nearly flawless mission of Voskhod 1, this mission was plagued by failures from the beginning.

The first launch attempt was aborted.

Another launch attempt was made, and this time, Soyuz 1 left the pad.  As soon as the spacecraft separated from the rocket the problems began. Only one of the solar panels deployed, which left the craft with less power than it would usually receive. The radio failed, so communication with the ground was intermittent. The horizon sensor also failed, so Komarov couldn’t determine his spacecraft’s attitude for burns. Ground control decided to end the mission early. The automatic system for deboritting was triggered on the sixteenth orbit and failed. Komarov manually performed the deorbit burn two orbits later.

Thankfully, re-entry was normal and the drogue chute deployed. The main chute, however, failed to deploy because it was tangled. The reserve chute was deployed, and that ended up being tangled with the drogue chute.

Without any parachutes, Soyuz 1 was unable to slow down enough for a safe re-entry. It impacted the ground at speed, destroying the spacecraft, and killing Komarov.

His remains were recovered, and he was given a state funeral in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow. After his death, he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest award in the country for bravery. A bust of Komarov on a pillar was erected at the site of the crash as a memorial.

More Information

Gemini’s First Docking Turns to Wild Ride in Orbit (NASA)

Gemini 8 archive (NASA)

We Start The First Voskhod Mission (Zarya)

Vladimir Komarov (Zarya)

Soyuz 1 info page (Spacefacts.de)