Mark Schuler (American, B. 1951) "First Docking in Space 1966" Signed lower right. Original Mixed Media painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This artwork was originally published on the Republic of the Marshall Islands 45c First Docking in Space stamp issued November 24, 1989. On July 18, 1966, exactly 101 minutes apart, two rockets were launched flawlessly into space from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Timing was critical (a leeway of only 40 seconds could be allowed) because the two spacecraft were to attempt to rendezvous miles above Earth. The manned craft was Gemini 10, piloted by John Young and copiloted by Michael Collins. Their key objective was to dock Gemini 10 with the unmanned Agena spacecraft launched less than two hours earlier. It was important to the entire Gemini Project that the mission succeed; previous such flights had experienced disappointing failures in attempting to accomplish such a rendezvous. After 40 minutes of maneuvering, the Gemini 10 astronauts successfully docked their vehicle with its target. Young and Collins then proceeded to approach Gemini 8's derelict Agena, which had been left behind in an emergency. Collins reached the marooned craft with a 27-minute space walk. Loud cheers could be heard in Mission Control when the astronauts' spacecraft finally splashed down in the Atlantic, for Gemini 10 was the first mission to accomplish all of the objectives required for a lunar mission in the upcoming Apollo program: orbital rendezvous, docking, orbital maneuvering of the composite vehicle and controlled work during extra-vehicular activity. Image Size: 12 x 12 in. Overall Size: 20 x 20 in. Unframed. (B12180)