The Gemini capsule
After astronauts got a taste of orbital space, it was time to train them for the Moon. Project Gemini served as a bridge between Mercury and Apollo.
With the Gemini missions, NASA achieved the first rendezvous of two human spacecraft in orbit. In this photo taken on December 15, 1965, the Gemini VI spacecraft can be seen through the hatch window of Gemini VII at an altitude of 160 miles (258 kilometers) above Earth.
Unlike the Mercury spacecraft, which was just barely big enough to fit one astronaut, the Gemini capsule carried two astronauts on board. Through their missions, the astronauts could change the capsule’s orbit, work outside of the spacecraft, and remain in space for at least two weeks.
