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By then, the mission itself was far from O.K. It had not achieved such scheduled goals as Astronaut Scott's two-hour walk in space, the first vise of a power tool in space and a host of other scientific experiments. In Houston the next move was obvious: Arm strong's decision to use his vital re-entry rockets prematurely meant that the spacecraft must be returned to earth before it ran out of the necessary fuel for controlling reentry.
A Steely Embrace. That dark news shadowed a day that had actually seen a considerable technical triumph. The most important part of the flight was the docking maneuver, and Armstrong and Scott were still in their first orbit when they began the complicated exercise in space navigation. By 4:21 p.m. E.S.T., during Gemini 8's third revolution over the Pacific, Armstrong reported: "Object in sight." There was the Agena, 76 miles ahead, its beacon flashing against the dark sky. After gradually closing the gap, Gemini 8 eased up and in front of the Agena, while swinging around so that it was flying backwards, 150 feet ahead of the target. "We are station keeping" (flying in formation), reported Armstrong at 5:40 p.m. America's second space rendezvous had been accomplished
For the next 25 minutes, Armstrong and Scott electronically checked the Agena's complex systems. Assured that all was in order, they nudged to within five feet of the Agena's nose, close enough for them to read a small, lighted instrument panel over the target craft's docking cone. Using his maneuvering stick, Armstrong fired a brief burst from two of Gemini's 100-lb. thrusters. The gap between Agena and the spacecraft closed at about six inches per second, until the craft gently bumped its nose into the docking cone.
Mooring latches clicked into place, hooking themselves into Gemini's nose. An electric motor aboard Agena spun into action, retracting the docking cone, pulling Gemini's nose about two feet into the Agena and connecting the electrical systems of the two craft. On Agena's exterior instrument panel, a green "rigid" sign flashed on, indicating that Gemini and Agena were now physically and electronically linked in a steely embrace. It was 6:15 p.m. For the first time, man had joined two craft in space.
"We are docked," Armstrong reported exultantly, "and he's really a smoothie." "Oh, Roger, and congratulations," replied a communicator aboard the tracking ship Rose Knot below in the South Atlantic. "This is real good."
Giant Parachute. Things were not "real good" again until after the decision was made to abort the mission.
Then Gemini returned to docile perfection. Advised by Houston that they were to bring the spacecraft back to earth in an area 500 miles southeast of Okina wa, Armstrong and Scott fired their four 2,500-lb. retrorockets over Central Africa at 9:45 p.m. E.S.T. and skillfully guided Gemini 8 toward its splashdown.