The attempt failed. The target satellite exploded as it separated from its main rocket.America's space agency decided to move forward. It would launch the next in its Gemini series.Then someone had an idea: why not launch both Geminis.The second one could chase the first one, instead of a satellite. Again, things did not go as planned.It took two tries to launch the second Gemini. By that time, the first one had been in orbit about eleven days.Time was running out. The astronauts on the second Gemini moved their spacecraft into higher orbits.They got closer and closer to the Gemini ahead of them. They needed to get within six hundred meters to be considered successful.After all the problems on the ground, the events in space went smoothly.The two spacecraft got within one-third of a meter of each other. The astronauts had made the operation seem easy.In January, nineteen fifty-nine, the Soviets launched a series of unmanned Luna rockets. The third of these flights took pictures of the far side of the moon.
