Apollo 9

Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched March 3, 1969. It was the second manned flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle and the first manned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM).

Crew

James McDivitt (2), commander
David Scott (2), command module pilot
Russell Schweickart (1), lunar module pilot
Backup Crew
Pete Conrad, commander
Dick Gordon, command module pilot
Alan Bean, lunar module pilot
Support Crew
Fred Haise
Jack Lousma
Ed Mitchell
Al Worden
Mission Parameters
Mass: CSM 26,801 kg; LM 14,575 kg
Perigee: 189.5 km
Apogee: 192.4 km
Inclination: 32.57°
Period: 88.64 min
LM - CSM Docking
Undocked: March 7, 1969 - 12:39:36 UTC
Re-docked:March 7, 1969 - 19:02:26 UTC
Space walk
Schweickart - EVA - LM forward hatch
*Start: March 6, 1969, 16:45:00 UTC
*End: March 6, 1969, 17:52:00 UTC
*Duration: 1 hour, 07 minutes
Scott - EVA - CM side hatch
*Start: March 6, 1969, 17:01:00 UTC
*End: March 6, 1969, 18:02:00 UTC
*Duration: 1 hour, 01 minute
See also
Extra-vehicular activity
List of spacewalks
Splashdown
Mission Highlights

Apollo 9 was the first space test of the third critical piece of Apollo hardware-the lunar module. For ten days, the astronauts put all three Apollo vehicles through their paces in Earth orbit, undocking and then redocking the lunar lander with the command module, just as they would in lunar orbit. For this and all subsequent Apollo flights, the crews were allowed to name their own spacecraft. The gangly lunar module was "Spider," the command module "Gumdrop" on account of the blue cellophane wrapping in which the craft arrived at KSC. Schweickart and Scott performed a space walk, and 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. Apollo 9 gave proof that the Apollo machines were up to the task of orbital rendezvous and docking.

Crew members tested the LM and practiced separation and docking maneuvers in earth orbit. The LM ascent stage orbit decayed on 23 October 1981, the LM descent stage (1969-018D) orbit decayed 22 March 1969. The splashdown point was 23 deg 15 min N, 67 deg 56 min W, 180 miles (290 km) east of Bahamas and within sight of the recovery ship USS Guadalcanal.

Launched: March 3, 1969 from Pad 39A
:Returned: March 13, 1969
:Crew members: James McDivitt, commander; David Scott, command module pilot; Rusty Schweickart, lunar module pilot.
:Command module: Gumdrop
:Lunar module: Spider

Original Mission Profile

In October 1967 it was planned that following the first manned orbital flight of the CSM (Apollo 7) the second manned Apollo mission would have a manned CSM launched on a Saturn 1B and a few days later the Lunar Module Launched on a second Saturn 1B to practise first orbit rendevous. When the mission was delayed due to production problems with the LM McDivitt was offered the chance to fly the first manned Saturn V as Commander of Apollo 8 but declined. This had long lasting consequence as the crew rotation for Apollos 8 and 9 were swapped putting Neil Armstrong in line for the first manned landing mission.

Schweickart was due to carry out a more extensive set of space walk activity to test the Apollo suit but as he was suffering from space sickness this was restricted to the stand up test in the Lunar Module hatch.

The command module was displayed at the Michigan Space and Science Center, Jackson, Michigan until April 2004 when the center closed. In May, 2004, the command module Gumdrop was moved to San Diego Aerospace Museum in southern California. The LM descent stage's orbit decayed 22 March, 1969 and it burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere. The LM ascent stage orbit decayed on 23 October, 1981.

The S-IVB stage J-2 engine was restarted after Lunar Module extraction and propelled the stage into solar orbit by burning to depletion.