09/14/2024
The three-day Gemini XI mission, with astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad and Richard Gordon aboard, was the first to achieve a first-orbit rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle soon after it launched on Sept. 12, 1966. On Sept. 14, their third day in space, the Agena's main engine was fired, raising the docked spacecraft to an apogee of 853 miles, the highest altitude in Earth orbit reached by any crewed mission. This record stood for nearly 58 years when it was broken by SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, which reached 875 miles on Sept. 10, 2024.
What did Conrad say when Agena boosted the Gemini XI spacecraft to the record-breaking apogee?
A. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this!”
B. “Whoop-de-doo!”
C. “Whee!”
Conrad exuberantly called to the ground, “Whoop-de-doo! [That's] the biggest thrill of my life!” The 26-second burn raised the apogee, or orbital high point, of the docked spacecraft to 853 miles, breaking Gemini X's record and to this day the highest altitude attained during any non-lunar crewed mission.
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration history!
