“This Agena target vehicle was the first unmanned satellite successfully photographed from space.” Neil Armstrong.

Minutes later Armstrong performed the first docking ever to take place in space, a major milestone of space exploration. Highlighted by the Sun, the unmanned Agena Target Vehicle (ATV) seems to hang motionless, seen at a range of 55 feet, as the spacecraft was station-keeping with the ATV over the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Mexico. An eight-foot L-band radar antenna rises just aft of the docking cone, which is fitted to receive Gemini VIII’s nose.

“This Agena target vehicle 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”. Neil Armstrong (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.