Gemini 6A

Although it has no specific connection to Christmas, it did become associated with Christmas music in the 1860s.

In a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra on December 16, 1965, they played the song Back to Earth.

A Trivial Pursuit question claims that the horse's name in the song is Bobtail.

We found the original lyrics and also referenced mentalfloss.com.

The fact is that throughout the entire history of space exploration, there has been only one definitive UFO sighting reported by astronauts.

On December the 6th, 1965, 10 days before Christmas, Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford were aboard Gemini 6 and were getting ready to reenter Earth's atmosphere when Stafford contacted Mission Control to report seeing a familiar-looking UFO.

He said, "We have an object, looks like a satellite, going from north to south, probably in polar orbit.

Looks like he might be going to reenter soon.

It set another long-duration spaceflight endurance record, helping scientists ensure that humans could survive a lengthy trip in such an environment.

While up there, Gemini 6A was launched.

This spacecraft was supposed to dock with an uncrewed vehicle, but that vehicle ended up exploding during launch.

The circumstances demanded an abrupt change of plans.

NASA quickly changed Gemini 6A's course and had them stay about a foot apart for roughly five hours.

Though Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 lacked the docking mechanisms to physically attach, they verified orbital mechanics calculations and paved the way for future lunar module docking procedures.

In March of 1966, Gemini 8 was launched with Armstrong and Scott with the objective of docking with an unmanned vehicle.

Neil Armstrong successfully completed the world's first orbital docking.