August 11, 2021
On this date in 1962, the Soviet Union launched Vostok 3, with Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev aboard, into Earth orbit. The next day, Vostok 4 was launched with Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich aboard. Although they had no maneuvering capability and therefore could not rendezvous or dock, the spacecraft did briefly see each other at a minimum distance of about 5 kilometers.
The Vostok-K rocket was used to launch Vostok 3 and 4 to space. Seen above is the launch of Vostok 1 which carried Yuri Gagarin to space. Image Source: Starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov; Diagram Credit: Roryjoem