120 a
Thomas Stafford or Eugene Cernan

Orbital view over the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico

Gemini IX-A, June 3-6, 1966, orbit 1, 001:36:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA MSC caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA S-66-37910]

120 b
Andrew Patnesky

The Gemini tracking map in Mission Control during the space flight

Gemini IX-A, June 3-6, 1966,004:11:50 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA S-66-35975” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, with three filing holes in top margin

120 c
Thomas Stafford or Eugene Cernan

The Angry Alligator over the Earth

Gemini IX-A, June 3-6, 1966, orbit 4, 004:53:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA S-66-37923” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

120 a
NASA SP-171, p. 241.

120 c
NASA SP-171, p. IX.

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Lot Essay

120 a
The photograph was taken with a modified 70mm Hasselblad 500C camera and its 80mm lens, using Eastman Kodak, Ektachrome MS (S.O. 217) color film.

“The Mississippi River delta, and Gulf coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as seen from the Gemini IX-A spacecraft during its first revolution of Earth. The Florida peninsula is seen at upper right corner of the picture. Lake Pontchartrain is a lower left. New Orleans is located between the lake and the U-shaped bend in the river. Large bay at top left center is Mobile Bay. The next bay to the east is Pensacola Bay. Cape San Blas near Apalachicola, Florida, is the point of land at top center of the picture. Note alluvial deposit at mouths of Mississippi” (NASA caption).

001:31:21 Stafford: Now we’re going to take some pictures.

120 b
Orbital tracks and Ground Elapsed Times (GET) for both the spacecraft (left) and the target docking vehicle (right) are visible.

120 c
The Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) photographed with the Hasselblad 500C and its 80mm lens from the spacecraft during the first of their three rendezvous in space.

Failure of the docking adapter protective cover to fully separate on the ATDA prevented the docking of the two spacecrafts. Islas Los Roques, Isla Orchila in the Caribbean are to the left and to the top of the ATDA, seen at a range of 75 feet. Clouds in the upper right hide the coast of Venezuela, 300 km below.

“There was a full Moon out and I saw the ATDA right there in the moonlight. It just came to my mind that it looked like an Angry Alligator,” Thomas Stafford explained. “I called it a few other things too when I saw what it was. They wanted Cernan to go extravehicular and take a pair of snippers and try to unsnap it, but the more we looked at it we decided it was not a wise idea. The lines were loaded with some pretty heavy springs and some sharp edges” (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 52).

From the mission transcript during the rendezvous:

004:25:21 Stafford: I’ve got a weird looking machine here.
004:25:25 Capcom (Mission Control): What does it look like?
04:25:26 Stafford: Okay. Both the clamshells of the nose cones are still on, but they are open wide. The front release has let go, the back closing bolts attached to the ATDA have both fired and it appears that one of the bolts from the band has fired. What’s keeping it together is the slip disconnect for a small electrical connector that fires the bolt on the band.
004:25:54 Capcom: Roger. Understand.
004:25:55 Stafford: So the jaws are like an alligator jaw that’s open at 25 to 30 degrees. Both the piston springs look like they are fully extended. [...]
004:32:42 Stafford: It looks like an angry alligator out here rotating around.