[GEMINI 9A] "The Angry Alligator". VINTAGE NASA "RED NUMBER" PHOTOGRAPH, 4 June 1966.

The Vintage NASA Photo Collection of Philip Kulpa

[GEMINI 9A]

"THE ANGRY ALLIGATOR" - FAILURE OF THE GEMINI 9A AUGMENTED TARGET DOCKING ADAPTOR. 4 JUNE 1966.

Vintage NASA “Red Number” chromogenic color photograph, 10 by 8 inches, “A Kodak Paper” watermark to verso. NASA image ID “NASA S-66-37970” printed in margin in red.

A dramatic photograph of taken at a range of 47 feet from the Gemini 9A spacecraft of the Augmented Target Docking Adapter ("ATDA"), with the ocean, clouds, and coastline of Mauritania visible in the background. The ATDA was an uncrewed back-up spacecraft to the Agena Target Vehicle (ATV), used by NASA during the Gemini program to practice space rendezvous techniques. After the ATV for Gemini 6 failed to launch in October of 1965, NASA developed the smaller ATDA docking target, fitting it with an attitude control propulsion system. Ultimately, the ATDA did not serve its purpose, as the launch shroud only partially opened, and was described by Gemini Command Pilot Tom Stafford as looking like "an angry alligator."