Astronaut Walter H. Schirra Jr. (on right), Command pilot, prepares to remove his helmet and climb from his Gemini VI spacecraft as he and Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford (not in view) arrive aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp.
The Gemini VI spacecraft splashed down in the western Atlantic recover area at 10:29 a.m. (EST) December 16, 1965, after a successful 25 hr. 52 minute mission in space.
Walter Schirra, Jr. was one of the original seven U.S. astronauts and the only astronaut to fly in all of America’s first three manned space programs; Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
NASA has named these three astronauts as the prime crew of the Apollo 10 space mission.
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, both Expedition 24 flight engineers, attired in their Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, occupy their seats in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Doug Hurley, STS-135 pilot, attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, participates in a training session in the fixed-base shuttle mission simulator (SMS).
STS-112 Mission specialist Piers Sellers is photographed on the end of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) arm as he tethers himself to the External TV Camera Group (ETVCG) on the Destiny laboratory module (LAB1/C2-05) of the International Space Station (ISS).