In 1966, Michael Collins lost a camera and a micrometeorite experiment during a Gemini X spacewalk; both drifted away into orbit

Not all space junk comes from discarded rocket stages and defunct satellites. In some cases, the objects fell from astronauts' own hands. According to NASA's official Gemini X mission page, astronaut Michael Collins lost his camera when conducting an extravehicular activity in July 1966. Then the experiment he had gone outside to retrieve slipped away from him again on his way back inside the spacecraft. This is a small but memorable detail from one of NASA's more ambitious Gemini missions. However, it says a lot about the state of spacewalk technology in 1966. Astronauts did not move around freely like they do today. They had to learn as they went.

What actually happened on Collins' spacewalk

Gemini X took off into space on July 18, 1966, with John Young as command pilot and Michael Collins as pilot. On the second day of the mission, NASA planned a first: to fly to the dead Agena target vehicle left from Gemini VIII and have Collins go outside to remove a micrometeorite experiment device installed on it. Young brought Gemini X near the satellite, and Collins pushed himself and reached it. That proved difficult. According to NASA, there were no handholds on Agena for an astronaut; he was held only by his tether and kept drifting away from the spacecraft, so he had to use his maneuvering thruster to return and continue his work. Collins managed to unscrew the package, but somehow he lost his camera. Moreover, according to NASA's account of the mission, as Collins made his way back through the hatch with the experiment, it came loose and drifted back out into space before the hatch was sealed.

Why NASA didn't treat this as a failure

The loss of two objects during a single spacewalk may seem reckless at first sight, but becomes understandable when you consider the situation Collins worked in. Mission Control reduced Gemini's fuel resources because maneuvering to keep the spacecraft stable relative to the Agena cost a lot of fuel. Collins was working with limited time and resources, had no stable surface to push off, and could not afford to lose even the smallest item. As a result, losing a free-floating object could not be called a failure but rather a test case for which the spacewalks were performed.

This is the whole essence of Project Gemini as a space program. Before NASA started sending astronauts to the Moon, it needed to make sure that spacewalking, rendezvous, and docking procedures proved their reliability in real space, not only in simulators. NASA's mission report about this flight, prepared shortly after its conclusion, once again shows how much spacewalk time was lost due to fuel limitations.

What changed because of moments like this

The lack of handholds on the Agena became a lesson for the missions that followed. Subsequent Gemini missions, and eventually the Apollo missions, equipped astronauts with both foot restraints and dedicated handholds so they would have solid footing while performing extravehicular activities. However, NASA considered Gemini X successful. It rendezvoused with the Agena, successfully docked with a separately launched target vehicle, and demonstrated that an operational Agena could lift the spacecraft it was attached to into a higher orbit. Neither the loss of the camera nor the scientific experiment affected the mission's success.

Where the lost gear ended up

The two objects were never recovered and, because they were left orbiting Earth without any means of deceleration, they would eventually re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up, as most uncontrolled debris in low orbit does. NASA's mission history does not document the exact time of this occurrence. Instead, what has been preserved to this day is the legend itself: the tale of the rookie astronaut having to detach an experiment while tethered to the spacecraft, using nothing more than a rope and a jet thruster gun to stabilize himself. Six decades later, Gemini X continues to be proof that even in the most well-controlled NASA missions, there would always be some chaos and a camera trailing behind them.