S65-44293 (15 Dec. 1965) --- Gemini-6, carrying astronauts Walter M. Schirra Jr., command pilot, and Thomas P. Stafford, pilot, was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration?s John F. Kennedy Space Center at 8:37 a.m. (EST), Dec. 15, 1965. Gemini-6 completed a highly successful rendezvous mission with Gemini-7.