Apollo 9 | Universe Today

Written by Jerry Coffey

Apollo 9 was the first combined, manned flight of the command service module and lunar module. The three-person crew, consisting of Mission Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schwieckart tested several aspects critical to landing on the moon, including the LM engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems, and docking maneuvers. It was the second atop the Saturn V rocket and the third manned mission of the Apollo program.

The Apollo 9 mission was planned to be done in stages, but production problems with the LM meant that the D Mission would not be able to fly until the spring of 1969, so NASA officials created another "C-Prime" mission to go in between the C and D missions, involving the CSM making the first manned flight to the Moon. This flight became Apollo 8, and was given to Borman, Lovell and Anders. Although he was in the rotation for it, McDivitt claims he was never offered the "C-Prime" mission as he was already experienced with the LM. He also said that if he had been offered it, he probably would have declined, as he wanted to fly the LM. The original E Mission was subsequently scrubbed. Apollo 9 was the only Earth-orbit test of the full Apollo spacecraft, and was launched on a Saturn V instead of two Saturn Ibs. Because of all of these scrubbed missions, the crew rotation for Apollos 8 and 9 were swapped, and their backup crews were also swapped. This put Neil Armstrong and his crew in line for the first manned landing mission.

Not only was Apollo 9 the first space test of the complete Apollo spacecraft, including the third critical piece of Apollo hardware: the lunar module. It was also the first space docking with an internal crew transfer. For ten days, the astronauts put all three Apollo vehicles through their paces in Earth orbit, un-docking and then re-docking the lunar lander with the command module, just as they would in lunar orbit. Apollo 9 gave proof that the Apollo machines were up to the task of orbital rendezvous and docking. Schweickart and Scott performed a spacewalk (EVA). Schweickart checked out the new Apollo spacesuit, the first to have its own life support system rather than being dependent on an umbilical connection to the spacecraft, while Scott filmed him from the command module hatch. Schweickart was due to carry out a more extensive set of activities to test the suit, and demonstrate that it was possible for astronauts to perform an EVA from the lunar module to the command module in an emergency, but as he had been suffering from space sickness the extra tests were scratched.

Despite all of the scratched missions the Apollo 9 mission was a great success. You should check out this article for more information. Here on Universe Today we have a great interview that allowed the Apollo astronauts to debunk the theory that they did not land on the Moon. We also have an article about space euphoria. Astronomy Cast offers a good episode about the expected return to the Moon.

Filed under: Astronomy