In 1962, Armstrong was transferred to astronaut status. He served as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, launched March 16, 1966, and along with David Scott, performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space by mating his Gemini 8 with an uninhabited Agena rocket.
They almost failed the mission but still did it
( z1 fail :ARG1 ( z2 they ) :ARG2 ( z3 mission ) :mod ( z4 almost ) :concession-of ( z5 do :ARG0 z2 :ARG1 z3 :mod ( z6 still ) ) )