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Lot 100
[Gemini IX-A] THE ANGRY ALLIGATOR Eugene Cernan, 3-6 June 1966
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €832 inc. premium
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[Gemini IX-A] THE ANGRY ALLIGATOR
Eugene Cernan, 3-6 June 1966
Printed 1966.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-66-37966].
Numbered "S-66-37966" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A KODAK PAPER" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
A fantastic view of the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) from an altitude of about 300 km and a range of 38 feet during the third rendezvous over Earth. The failure of the docking adapter's protective cover to fully separate prevented the docking of the two spacecraft. Thomas Stafford memorably described the scene as looking like "an angry alligator out here rotating around."
Printed 1966.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-66-37966].
Numbered "S-66-37966" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A KODAK PAPER" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
A fantastic view of the Augmented Target Docking Adapter (ATDA) from an altitude of about 300 km and a range of 38 feet during the third rendezvous over Earth. The failure of the docking adapter's protective cover to fully separate prevented the docking of the two spacecraft. Thomas Stafford memorably described the scene as looking like "an angry alligator out here rotating around."
Footnotes
The photograph was taken with a Hasselblad 500C camera equipped with an 80mm lens and Kodak Ektachrome SO-217 medium speed ASA 64 colour reversal film.
"We were hoping not to see that shroud at all. Every time we activated that docking target, the collar that we were to dock with, it would relieve tension on that band and the jaws would open and close."
— Eugene Cernan (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 61)
"It just came to my mind that it looked like an Angry Alligator. 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."
— Thomas Stafford (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 52)
Literature
LIFE, 17 June 1969, pp. 36-37
Watch more
CLICK HERE: Gemini IX-A Onboard Footage with Narration from Post-Flight Press Conference
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