115 a
David Scott

The Agena Target Docking Vehicle (ATDA), first unmanned satellite photographed from space

Gemini VIII, March 16-17, 1966, 005:55:52 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, numbered “NASA S-66-25778” in red in top margin

115 b
David Scott

The Agena Target Docking Vehicle (ATDA), first unmanned satellite photographed over the Earth

Gemini VIII, March 16-17, 1966, 005:56:42 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-66-25779” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

115 c
David Scott

The Agena Target Docking Vehicle (ATDA), first unmanned satellite photographed from space, station-keeping with the Gemini spacecraft over the Earth

Gemini VIII, March 16-17, 1966

Three vintage chromogenic prints on fiber-based Kodak paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), the first and second with NASA MSC captions and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the versos, numbered “NASA S-66-25781 and S-66-25782” in red in top margin, the third with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA S-66-25783]
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

115 c
NASA SP-350, p. 38 (second photograph).

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Lot Essay

115 a
The Agena is photographed with the Hasselblad 500C at a range of 260 feet, with its motor end turned 45° toward Gemini VIII, and the black sky of space in the background. The spacecraft was orbiting over the Pacific Ocean North of Hawaii.

005:53:56 Scott: Boy: Look at that sucker!
005:54:06 Scott: That’s beautiful!
005:54:07 Armstrong: See the dipole?
005:54:08 Scott: Do I ever: I’ll say I see everything on that fellow!

115 b
A superb photograph of the Agena taken with the Hasselblad 500C at a range of 210 feet, with its motor end turned 45° toward Gemini VIII with the Pacific Ocean, clouds, limb in the background.

005:56:23 Armstrong: Flight Houston, this is Gemini VIII. We’re Station-keeping on the Agena at about 150 feet.005:56:35 Scott: Yaw left ... That’s good.
005:56:42 Scott: Right. Now I’ll get a better picture.
005:56:47 Scott: Got the Spot Meter over there anywhere handy?
005:56:50 Armstrong: ... It’s supposed to be at the back of the box here.
005:56:57 Scott: Okay. Stay on the Agena. Don’t sweat this one. We’ll be around for a long time yet.

115 c
Highlighted by the Sun, the unmanned Agena target vehicle seems to hang motionless, seen at a range of 55, 45 and 44 feet, as the spacecraft was orbiting over the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Mexico. An eight-foot L-band radar antenna rises just aft of the docking cone (visible in the first photograph), which is fitted to receive Gemini VIII’s nose.

“This Agena target vehicle, Armstrong noted, “was the first unmanned satellite successfully photographed from space. It clearly indicates the detail in which one satellite can be observed from another. The photographs are a particularly good replica of the actual view seen with the eye, with the exception of the brilliance of the white and metallic parts of the Agena, never yet captured on film” (Cortright, p. 172).

From the mission transcript as the spacecraft was station-keeping with the Agena:

06:03:52 Armstrong: Man, it flies easy: I’d love to let you do it, but...
006:03:56 Scott: Oh no!
006:03:57 Armstrong: I think I better get my practice while I can.
006:03:59 Scott: Man, I’ll have my chance.!
006:04:00 Armstrong: Get yours later. [...]
006:04:52 Armstrong: Man, this is easy!
006:04:53 Scott: Is it really?
006:04:54 Armstrong: This Stationkeeping, there’s nothing to it.