Neil Armstrong was selected as an astronaut in 1962, he was part of the second group of astronauts ever chosen. After finishing his initial training he was picked to be mission commander of Gemini 8 in 1966. The two-man crew was Neil Armstrong and David Scott, they were the first two astronauts to dock two vehicles in space. The Gemini docked with an Agena spacecraft. The Agena, which had no crew, was launched so the Gemini could practice docking with it. After docking, the Gemini had a thruster problem. The capsule started spinning and the mission ended early. Luckily though, Armstrong and Scott were able to pilot the Gemini safely back to earth.