Gemini 9A (officially
Gemini IX-A) was a 1966 manned spaceflight in
NASA's
Gemini program. It was the 7th manned
Gemini flight, the 13th manned American flight and the 23rd spaceflight of all time (includes
X-15 flights over ). The original crew for Gemini 9, command pilot
Elliot See and pilot
Charles Bassett, were killed in a crash on February 28, 1966 while flying a
T-38 jet trainer to the
McDonnell Aircraft plant in
St. Louis, Missouri to inspect their spacecraft. The mission was flown June 3–6, 1966 by backup command pilot
Thomas P. Stafford and pilot
Eugene Cernan. The astronauts
rendezvoused with the
Augmented Target Docking Adaptor, but were unable to
dock with it because the nose fairing failed to eject from the docking target due to a launch preparation error. Cernan performed a two-hour
extravehicular activity, during which he was planned to demonstrate free flight in a self-contained rocket pack, the
Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. He was unable to accomplish this due to stress, fatigue, and overheating.