20 Dollars Mission Gemini VIII

Gemini VIII launched on March 16, 1966, and achieved the first successful docking of two spacecraft in orbit — a genuine technical milestone — before a thruster malfunction sent the joined vehicles into an uncontrolled roll exceeding one revolution per second. Neil Armstrong and David Scott were forced to undock, which only worsened the spin on Armstrong's capsule. He aborted the mission and made an emergency splashdown in the Pacific after less than eleven hours aloft, cutting short what was planned as a four-day flight. Liberia issued a run of commemorative silver pieces across the early 2000s covering the Gemini program systematically, this being one in that series.