🌍 This is a real photograph of Earth taken during the Gemini missions in the 1960s. At this time humans had only recently learned how to reach space and stay in orbit. For the astronauts on board this view was something no one in history had ever seen with their own eyes. The spacecraft was orbiting a few hundred kilometers above Earth. From that height the atmosphere becomes a thin glowing layer and the planet looks soft and curved against the black of space. Images like this helped scientists

On April 8, 1964, NASA launched the first uncrewed test flight of the new Gemini spacecraft. Discover space history 👉 https://trib.al/sMLY47R This was the very first mission of Project Gemini, which would later send crews of two into orbit. NASA flew a total of 12 Gemini missions, 10 of which had crews on board. For this first mission, NASA was testing the structural integrity of the crew capsule and the rocket. The launch vehicle was a modified version of the U.S. Air Force's intercontinental

On November 11, 1966, the Gemini 12 mission launched. Space History Archives👉 https://space-com.visitlink.me/QMPdV0 Gemini 12 was the last mission of the Gemini program. It had two astronauts on board: Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin. NASA wanted to send humans to the moon. But first, it needed to make sure crews had the right skills, like docking vehicles in space and taking spacewalks. Before Gemini 12, astronauts struggled with spacewalks because there weren't enough handholds on their spacecraft