That Time Neil Armstrong Almost Died in Space During the Gemini 8 Mission

NASA's Artemus II mission, the first of the Artemus lunar program to carry a crew, is scheduled for launch at 6:45 this evening, weather permitting. You can follow the progress of the launch at NASA or YouTube. 

This historic launch in the program to take us back to the moon reminds us of the Apollo program that made Neil Armstrong the first man to step onto the moon back in in 1969. But three years before that, Armstrong almost died during his first space flight aboard the Gemini 8 mission. The Smithsonian Institution has acquired rare photos of Armstrong and astronaut David Scott on their return to an unplanned location way ahead of schedule. The calm that Armstrong showed on that day helped solidify his later assignment to the Apollo 11 lunar mission. Read that story and see the pictures at Smithsonian magazine. -via Damn Interesting  

(Cropped image credit: Ron McQueeney/Ohio History Connection)