SkyMan says, 50 years ago today Apollo 9 launched
SkyMan
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Fifty years ago today, March 3, 1969, Apollo 9 launched into Earth orbit. It's mission was to test out the Lunar Module (LM), rendezvous techniques between the LM and the Command and Service Module (CSM), and the new Apollo era spacesuits. The crew consisted of Commander Jim McDivitt, CSM pilot Dave Scott and LM pilot Rusty Schweickart.
Apollo 9 is one of the forgotten Apollo missions. Apollo 8 was the first mission to the Moon, so coming back to an Earth orbit mission seemed not very important to many people. For those that are interested in the space program, Apollo 9 is one of the most impressive of all the Apollo missions. It was the so called, "Test pilots dream flight".
During the summer and fall of 1968 it became obvious that the LM would not be ready in time for the scheduled Apollo 8 mission. McDivitt and his crew were scheduled to fly the second manned Apollo mission. McDivitt was given the choice to, in essence, have his crew abandon the mission of testing out the first human rated LM, and go to the Moon instead. He declined (and his crew all supported his decision) as he felt that as a "testing" mission the first flight of the LM was far more interesting than the first flight to go to the Moon. McDivitt's crew's flight was pushed back and became Apollo 9.
The LM was the first true spaceship ever created. It was designed to fly solely in space. It could NOT fly in an atmosphere, and could not return to the Earth as it had no heat shield. Not only that, it was designed to only support people in the 1/6 gravity of the Moon. While NOT flimsy, as a flying machine it was VERY lightweight. During construction, a screwdriver was dropped by mistake in the crew cabin, and the screwdriver went right through the floor.
The LM (named Spider) consisted of a descent stage and an ascent stage. The mission objective was for McDivitt and Schweickart to use the descent engine to take the LM out about 100 miles from the CSM. Then they would blow off the ascent stage from the descent stage and return in it to the CSM (named Gumdrop). They were successful in this maneuver.
The Apollo era spacesuits were far more complex than the Gemini era spacesuits, with constant size functionality. The Gemini era spacesuits were basically inflatable balloons, that unless the astronaut was directly moving it would assume a more or less fetal position. It was VERY tiring to use, as the astronauts had to fight the neutral position of the suit. Furthermore, the Gemini spacesuit was linked to the Gemini spacecraft via an umbilical cord, which carried it's oxygen etc. The Apollo era spacesuit had all sorts of wires (and sprockets if you will). An astronaut could move in it to (relatively) any given position and the spacesuit would stay in that position. It was self contained... in essence it was it's own spaceship, and an astronaut could go wherever he wanted to in it, for up to 8 hours at a time. Schweickart and Scott successfully tested the spacesuit.
Here are the Apollo 9 pieces of my space collection. All the items that were flown on the mission will have this: (Flown).
Given that this is a numismatic forum, let's start with this. It's a Robbins medallion (so called because they were minted by the Robbins company). It is a metallic representation of the mission patch. (Flown).
Here's a mission patch. Note that the D in McDivitt is highlighted in red. The assorted types of Apollo missions were designated with numbers; A - J at the higher planning levels (e.g. upper management), with the letters designating different types of missions. Apollo 9 was considered a D class mission. (Flown).
Here's an eye patch. It was used to dark adapt the eye so that it could be used soon after moving into darkness (remember, each orbit consisted of roughly 45 minutes of daylight and 45 minutes of darkness). It was particularly helpful for use with the sextant. (Flown).
Here's a pic with Jim wearing the patch...
Here's a movable utility light that was used in the LM. It's roughly the size of 2 - 3 decks of cards stacked on each other. (Flown).
I've been lucky enough to meet and talk with all three of the crew members, in particular with McDivitt and Scott multiple times. They are very enjoyable to talk with.
Here are a couple signed mission pictures.
A mosaic of 4 mission pictures signed by Scott and Schweickart.
A picture of the LM Spider signed by McDivitt to yours truly.
Here's a roughly 4 minute NASA video about the mission:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hG6lWYAFeCQ
Comments
Thank you for posting this.
@SkyMan
Thanks for the Apollo 9 history and love the video!
Very cool Sy... I always enjoy seeing your astronaut posts! Tell us how many times you have watched the new movie "First Man"....
Me at least 4 times so far... 
Being a private pilot it is extremely emotional for me during the movie when the Eagle was on the final approach to touch down on the moon with Neil Armstrong at the controls... I could almost feel it! What a feeling it must have been for those two men! Thank you Sy for sharing the Apollo 9 story a stepping stone for the Apollo 11 first moon landing... AB
As always enjoy your posts. Thanks for the anniversary reminder.
Great post with truly historical information..... I hope we will soon be back in space...From the U.S. that is .... I was very disappointed when our programs were stopped. Cheers, RickO
Love these posts!
Ditto
Yup. Good stuff @SkyMan. Keep it coming.
I remember that well. a lot of good memories there
Great stuff, Sy. Thanks!
Those were the good ole days
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