The year 1966 saw the peak and the end of the
Gemini program
Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
. The program proved that
docking in space and human
EVA's could be done safely. It saw the first launch of the
Saturn IB rocket, an important step in the Apollo program, and the launch of
Luna 9
Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial bod ...
, the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on a celestial object (the Moon).
Launches
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January
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February
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March
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April
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May
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June
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July
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August
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September
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October
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November
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December
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Gemini and Apollo launches
Deep Space Rendezvous
EVAs
References
Footnotes
{{Orbital launches in 1966
Spaceflight by year