Memorial to Captain Hazen continued

I would like to thank his lovely
widow and daughter
for making these artifacts available to us.

I have reduced the original images so that they
will diplay on the web page for better viewing.

USS Leonard Foster Mason DD-852
Rescue of Gemini VIII Artifacts.

.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott

Gemini-8 was launched on March 16, 1966 
and made an emergency landing the same day.

The Atlas-Agena target vehicle for the Gemini VIII mission was successfully
launched from KSC Launch Complex 14 at 10 a.m. EST March 16. The Gemini 
VIII spacecraft followed from Launch Complex 19 at 11:41 a.m., with command
pilot Neil A. Armstrong and pilot David R. Scott aboard. The spacecraft and its 
target vehicle rendezvoused and docked, with docking confirmed 6 hours 33 
minutes after the spacecraft was launched. This first successful docking with an
Agena target vehicle was followed by a major space emergency. About 27 minutes
later the spacecraft-Agena combination encountered unexpected roll and yaw 
motion. A stuck thruster on Gemini put the docked assembly into a wild high 
speed gyration. Near structural limits and blackout, Armstrong undocked, figuring
the problem was in the Agena, which only made it worse. The problem arose 
again and when the yaw and roll rates became too high the crew shut the main
Gemini reaction control system down and activated and used both rings of the
reentry control system to reduce the spacecraft rates to zero. This used 75% of 
that system's fuel. Although the crew wanted to press on with the mission and
Scott's planned space walk, ground control ordered an emergency splashdown in 
the western Pacific during the seventh revolution. The spacecraft landed at 10:23
p.m. EST March 16 and Armstrong and Scott were picked up by the destroyer
U.S.S. Mason at 1:37 a.m. EST March 17. Although the flight was cut short by
the incident, one of the primary objectives - rendezvous and docking (the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbital flight) - was accomplished.