Gemini 8 Was Stomach-Churning
Neil Armstrong is known as the stoic, quiet, humble man who first set foot on the moon. But he also averted a space disaster during Gemini. Armstrong and astronaut David Scott boarded the Gemini 8 mission to conduct the first rendezvous and docking with a pre-launched spacecraft while in orbit, and conduct an EVA (the spacewalk outside the capsule). The mission was starting quite successfully. But the docked Apollo and Agena vehicles started spinning uncontrollably. Apollo was violently tumbling about space like a broken carnival ride. Armstrong called to NASA, “We’re rolling up and we can’t turn anything off.” Gemini 8 was rolling at a rate of one revolution a second. Armstrong aborted the mission for their own safety. Gemini 8 safely returned to earth, but had to bounce around, fighting the vomit-inducing effects of seasickness (reportedly with only one sickness bag) in 20-foot (6 meter) sea swells.