and Reaps the Whirlwind If Gemini 8 had failed, NASA would most ikely have been shut down. Three times during the space race, NASA nearly lost a capsule and its crew. The first time was during ...

Gemini 8 was in trouble. After completing the first space docking with another craft, it begins to spin uncontrollably. Ditching protocol, commanding officer Neil Armstrong tries an unorthodox plan.

A Titan II rocket took off from Cape Kennedy and carried a 6,900-lb. Gemini capsule 99 miles high. No attempt was made to orbit; the capsule arched like a missile and plunged down at 16.600 m.p.h ...

Television newsman Walter Cronkite remembered the mission: "Gemini 8 began to tumble and they were working frantically in the spacecraft of course, but also on Earth to try to figure out how to ...