Editing Space rendezvous (section)

===First docking===
{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2020}}
{{Main|Docking and berthing of spacecraft}}
[[File:S66-25781 PR.jpg|thumb|Gemini 8 Agena target vehicle]]
[[File:Gemini8Docking.gif|thumb|Gemini 8 docking with Agena vehicle]]

The first docking of two spacecraft was achieved on March 16, 1966 when [[Gemini 8]], under the command of [[Neil Armstrong]], rendezvoused and docked with an uncrewed [[Agena Target Vehicle]]. Gemini 6 was to have been the first docking mission, but had to be cancelled when that mission's Agena vehicle was destroyed during launch.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=GEM|title=NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=April 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403231734/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=GEM|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Soviets carried out the first automated, uncrewed docking between [[Cosmos 186]] and [[Cosmos 188]] on October 30, 1967.<ref>[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-105A NSSDC ID: 1967-105A] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413185438/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-105A |date=April 13, 2020 }} NASA, NSSDC Master Catalog</ref>

The first Soviet cosmonaut to attempt a manual docking was [[Georgy Beregovoy]] who unsuccessfully tried to dock his [[Soyuz 3]] craft with the uncrewed [[Soyuz 2]] in October 1968. Automated systems brought the craft to within {{convert|200|m|ft|sp=us}}, while Beregovoy brought this closer with manual control.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Part 1 - Soyuz |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirhh-part1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007084620/https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirhh-part1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-07 |website=History Collection - Johnson Space Center - NASA |page=11}}</ref>

The first successful crewed docking<ref name="MAAS Collection">{{cite web | title=Model of a Soyuz-4-5 spacecraft | website=MAAS Collection | url=https://collection.maas.museum/object/157010 | access-date=Oct 22, 2021}}</ref> occurred on January 16, 1969 when [[Soyuz 4]] and [[Soyuz 5]] docked, collecting the two crew members of Soyuz 5, which had to perform an [[extravehicular activity]] to reach Soyuz 4.<ref name="NASA">{{cite web | title=NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details | website=NASA | url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1969-004A | language=no | access-date=Oct 22, 2021}}</ref>

In March 1969 [[Apollo 9]] achieved the first internal transfer of crew members between two docked spacecraft.

The first rendezvous of two spacecraft from different countries took place in 1975, when an Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soyuz spacecraft as part of the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] mission.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT747|title=Encyclopedia of United States National Security|isbn=978-0-7619-2927-7|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|editor-first=Richard J.|editor-last=Samuels|editor-link=Richard J. Samuels|edition=1st|date=December 21, 2005|page=669|quote=Most observers felt that the U.S. moon landing ended the space race with a decisive American victory. […] The formal end of the space race occurred with the 1975 joint Apollo–Soyuz mission, in which U.S. and Soviet spacecraft docked, or joined, in orbit while their crews visited one another's craft and performed joint scientific experiments.|access-date=September 20, 2020|archive-date=July 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726071509/https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT747|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first multiple space docking took place when both [[Soyuz 26]] and [[Soyuz 27]] were docked to the [[Salyut 6]] space station during January 1978.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}