Editing Space rendezvous (section)

===First successful rendezvous===
[[File:Gemini 7 in orbit - GPN-2006-000035.jpg|right|thumb|Gemini 7 photographed from Gemini 6 in 1965]]
Rendezvous was first successfully accomplished by US astronaut [[Wally Schirra]] on December 15, 1965. Schirra maneuvered the [[Gemini 6A|Gemini 6]] spacecraft within {{convert|1|ft|cm}} of its sister craft [[Gemini 7]]. The spacecraft were not equipped to dock with each other, but maintained station-keeping for more than 20 minutes. Schirra later commented:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/ch12-7.htm|title=On The Shoulders of Titans - Ch12-7|website=www.hq.nasa.gov|access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=April 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403013722/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4203/ch12-7.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{quote|Somebody said ... when you come to within three miles (5 km), you've rendezvoused. If anybody thinks they've pulled a rendezvous off at three miles (5 km), have fun! This is when we started doing our work. I don't think rendezvous is over until you are stopped – completely stopped – with no relative motion between the two vehicles, at a range of approximately {{convert|120|ft|m}}. That's rendezvous! From there on, it's stationkeeping. That's when you can go back and play the game of driving a car or driving an airplane or pushing a skateboard – it's about that simple.}}

Schirra used another metaphor to describe the difference between the two nations' achievements:<ref name="agle199809">{{Cite magazine |last=Agle |first=D.C. |date=September 1998 |title=Flying the Gusmobile |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/flying-the-gusmobile-218187/ |magazine=Air & Space |language=en |access-date=2018-12-15 |archive-date=April 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403013717/https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/flying-the-gusmobile-218187/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{quote|[The Russian "rendezvous"] was a passing glance—the equivalent of a male walking down a busy main street with plenty of traffic whizzing by and he spots a cute girl walking on the other side. He's going 'Hey wait' but she's gone. That's a passing glance, not a rendezvous.}}