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lastlib

(28,340 posts)

4. I have to challenge this...

Wed Apr 8, 2026, 09:50 AM

Wednesday

The Soviet Union did it in 1962 with Vostok 3 and 4, launched a day apart, and coming within a few kilometers of each other. They did communicate with each other during their approach.

Maybe it depends on what you count, but there have been numerous times that the US program has had two vehicles that might've communicated with each other. The Apollo program, with command and lunar modules separated, presented opportunities for ship-to-ship communication. Gemini 6 & 7 did the first US in-space rendezvous of manned ships, and it's hard to imagine that the two didn't exchange communication.

So no, the ISS/Artemis isn't the first.

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lastlib cloudbase RT Atlanta IrishAfricanAmerican

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This was the first ship-to-ship communications ever to take place in space. #NASA (ISS to Artemis) [View all] Swede Wednesday OP

That's a pretty cool milestone. nt Nittersing Wednesday #1

I never had thought about it but I suspose I had assumed they could always communite riversedge Wednesday #2

I would have thought there would have been displacedvermoter Wednesday #3

I have to challenge this... lastlib Wednesday #4

Later that decade, Gemini VII and VI... Kid Berwyn Wednesday #6

Yeah, I mentioned that, but wasn't sure..... lastlib Wednesday #7

Good point about ship-to-ship vs ground stations 'n' satellites... Kid Berwyn Wednesday #9

I have vivid memory of the Apollo-Soyuz handshake! lastlib Wednesday #10

A NASA Rabbit Hole Kid Berwyn Wednesday #11

Oh, god, YES! lastlib Wednesday #13

this is the right answer RT Atlanta Wednesday #15

Low earth orbit vs space. Swede Wednesday #17

Plus, wouldn't every ship that docked with the ISS have communicated?? IrishAfricanAmerican Wednesday #18

Don't the ships docking with the ISS communicate as well? tinrobot Wednesday #5

That's what I was thinking too. Mysterian Wednesday #12

Spacecraft have certainly communicated with one another in space before now, but EarlG Wednesday #8

I don't think this was really a direct ship-to-ship communication. LudwigPastorius Wednesday #14

Hailing frequencies open! SocialDemocrat61 Wednesday #16