--- title: Countdown Podcast Episode 5: Gemini 9's Spacewalk From Hell description: TIME's Jeffrey Kluger tells the story of a near-tragic spacewalk on Gemini 9 in 1966, in the latest episode of the podcast "Countdown." canonical: https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-17T15:10:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:01:32.969Z article:section: Science og:title: 'Countdown' Podcast Episode 5: A Spacewalk From Hell og:description: Gemini 9's 1966 spacewalk nearly ended in tragedy og:url: https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3f30d9b14be6eb9/6988da11fb4eac60b1893598/eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Countdown' Podcast Episode 5: A Spacewalk From Hell twitter:description: Gemini 9's 1966 spacewalk nearly ended in tragedy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3f30d9b14be6eb9/6988da11fb4eac60b1893598/eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Countdown' Podcast Episode 5: A Spacewalk From Hell > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 17, 2017 3:10 PM UTC  In a view from the Gemini 9 spacecraft, Astronaut Gene Cernan tethered to the Gemini 9 spacecraft as it orbits the Earth. In a view from the Gemini 9 spacecraft, Astronaut Gene Cernan tethered to the Gemini 9 spacecraft as it orbits the Earth. Corbis/Getty Images  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 17, 2017 3:10 PM UTC No astronauts ever wanted a mission more than Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan wanted Gemini 9 in the spring of 1966\. And no astronauts ever wanted one less either. The mission itself was a first-rate assignment, one that included a rendezvous and docking with an Agena target vehicle as well as an extended spacewalk for Cernan. And it wouldn’t be just any [spacewalk](http://time.com/4717178/nasa-gopro-spacewalk-video-thomas-pesquet/); Cernan would be wearing what amounted to an orbital jet pack, allowing him to zip around at the end of a long tether with a maneuverability no American astronaut or Soviet cosmonaut had ever enjoyed before. The problem was, the mission was never supposed to belong to Stafford and Cernan at all. It had come to them just a few months before, only after a terrible tragedy had struck [NASA](http://time.com/money/4884729/nasa-job-openings-careers-pay/). Stafford and Cernan would resolve to fly it well—but they knew they could never fly it with unalloyed joy. As it happened, tragedy appeared ready to strike again. This time it took aim at Cernan, and this time it threatened the space agency with something it had never experienced before: the death of an astronaut during a flight—and a death of the worst imaginable kind. Episode 5 of _Countdown: The 10 Most Harrowing Space Missions of All Time,_ tells the tale of Gemini 9, and of the quick thinking and steady nerves of two astronauts who were determined that disaster would not strike the same mission twice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/"},"headline":"'Countdown' Podcast Episode 5: A Spacewalk From Hell","datePublished":"2017-08-17T15:10:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:01:32.969Z","description":"Gemini 9's 1966 spacewalk nearly ended in tragedy","url":"https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/","keywords":["Podcast","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3f30d9b14be6eb9/6988da11fb4eac60b1893598/eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3f30d9b14be6eb9/6988da11fb4eac60b1893598/eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"eugene-cernan-gemini-9-spacewalk","caption":"In a view from the Gemini 9 spacecraft, Astronaut Gene Cernan tethered to the Gemini 9 spacecraft as it orbits the Earth.","creditText":"Corbis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/podcast/","name":"Podcast"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4903929/countdown-podcast-gemini-9/","name":"'Countdown' Podcast Episode 5: A Spacewalk From Hell"}}]}] ```