On June 3, 1966, two NASA astronauts blasted off on the three-day Gemini 9 mission to rendezvous with another spacecraft and test out the Air Force’s Astronaut Maneuvering Unit — essentially a rocket-powered jet pack. But not everything went according to plan, and both the rendezvous and spacewalk encountered hiccups during the mission.
Here: the prime crew of astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, command pilot (on the left) and Eugene A. Cernan, pilot, stand behind the backup crew of astronauts Elliot M. See, Jr., command pilot and Charles A. Bassett II, pilot, for an official NASA photo in January 1966. [Gemini Program: Two-Man Prep for Moon Missions
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