Apollo 9

Apollo 9

David Scott performs an EVA from Command Module Gumdrop, seen from docked Lunar Module Spider
Mission type	Lunar Module test flight
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	CSM: 1969-018A LM: 1969-018C
SATCAT №	CSM: 3769 LM: 3771
Mission duration	10 days, 1 hours, 54 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Apollo CSM-104 Apollo LM-3
Manufacturer	CSM: North American Rockwell LM: Grumman
Launch mass	CSM: 26,801 kilograms (59,086 lb) LM: 14,575 kilograms (32,132 lb)
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	James A. McDivitt David R. Scott Russell L. Schweickart
Callsign	CSM: Gumdrop LM: Spider
EVAs	1
EVA duration	77 minutes
Start of mission
Launch date	March 3, 1969, 16:00:00 (1969-03-03UTC16Z) UTC
Rocket	Saturn V SA-504
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Decay date	October 23, 1981 (LM)
Landing date	March 13, 1969, 17:00:54 (1969-03-13UTC17:00:55Z) UTC
Landing site	North Atlantic Ocean 23°15′N 67°56′W
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee	204 kilometers (127 mi)
Apogee	497 kilometers (309 mi)
Inclination	33.8 degrees
Period	91.55 minutes
Epoch	March 5, 1969
Docking with LM
Docking date	March 3, 1969, 19:01:59 UTC
Undocking date	March 7, 1969, 12:39:06 UTC
Docking with LM Ascent Stage
Docking date	March 7, 1969, 19:02:26 UTC
Undocking date	March 7, 1969, 21:22:45 UTC
Left to right: McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart Apollo program ← Apollo 8 Apollo 10 →

Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the United States Apollo space program and the first flight of the Command/Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). Its three-person crew, consisting of Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart, tested several aspects critical to landing on the Moon, including the LM engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems, and docking maneuvers. The mission was the second manned launch of a Saturn V rocket.

After launching on March 3, 1969, the crewmen spent ten days in low Earth orbit. They performed the first manned flight of a LM, the first docking and extraction of a LM, two spacewalks (EVA), and the second docking of two manned spacecraft—two months after the Soviets performed a spacewalk crew transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. The mission proved the LM worthy of manned spaceflight. Further tests on the Apollo 10 mission would prepare the LM for its ultimate goal, landing on the Moon.

Crew

Position	Astronaut
Commander	James A. McDivitt Second and last spaceflight
Command Module Pilot	David R. Scott Second spaceflight
Lunar Module Pilot	Russell L. Schweickart Only spaceflight
Like Apollo 8, the crew of Apollo 9 consisted of two Gemini veterans and one rookie.

Backup crew

Position	Astronaut
Commander	Charles Conrad, Jr,
Command Module Pilot	Richard F. Gordon, Jr.
Lunar Module Pilot	Alan L. Bean
The backup crew became the prime crew on Apollo 12.

Clifton Williams was the original backup Lunar Module Pilot on Conrad's crew, but was killed in October 1967 when the T-38 he was flying crashed near Tallahassee.

Support crew

• Fred W. Haise, Jr
• Jack R. Lousma
• Edgar D. Mitchell
• Alfred M. Worden

Flight directors

• Gene Kranz, White team
• Gerry Griffin, Gold team
• Pete Frank, Orange team

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

EVA

• 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 - Standup 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

Original mission profile

In April 1966, McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart were selected as the backup crew to Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee for the planned first manned Earth orbital test flight of the Command/Service Module, designated AS-204 expected to fly in late 1966. This was to be followed by a second similar flight, AS-205, to be crewed by Wally Schirra, Walter Cunningham, and Donn Eisele.

However, delays in the CSM development pushed AS-204 into 1967. By December 1966, the original AS-205 mission was cancelled, Schirra's crew was named as Grissom's backup, and McDivitt's crew was promoted to prime crew for a new second mission, to fly the complete Apollo spacecraft, launching the CSM and LM on two separate Saturn IB vehicles into a low Earth orbit. They immediately began training for this flight, designated AS-205/208, expected to occur in late 1967.

On January 27, 1967, Grissom's crew were conducting a launch-pad test for their planned February 21 mission, which they named Apollo 1, when a fire broke out in the cabin, killing all three men and putting an 18-month hold on the manned program while the Command Module (CM) was redesigned for safety.

As it turned out, a 1967 launch of AS-205/208 would have been impossible even absent the Apollo 1 accident, as problems with the LM delayed its first unmanned test flight until January 1968. NASA was able to use the 18-month hiatus to catch up with development and unmanned testing of the LM and the Saturn V launch vehicle.

By October 1967, planning for manned flights resumed, with Apollo 7 being the first Earth orbit CSM flight (now known as the C mission) in October 1968 given to Schirra's crew, and McDivitt's mission (now known as the D Mission) following as Apollo 8 in December 1968, using a single Saturn V instead of the two Saturn IBs. This would be followed by a higher Earth orbit flight (E Mission), to be crewed by Frank Borman, Michael Collins, and William Anders in early 1969.

However, continued LM production problems meant that the D mission would not be able to fly until the spring of 1969, so NASA officials created another mission for Apollo 8 using the Saturn V to launch only the CSM on the first manned flight to orbit the Moon, and the E mission was cancelled as unnecessary. Since McDivitt's crew had trained for the first LM mission, and he expressed the personal desire to fly it, the Borman and McDivitt crews were swapped, and the D mission became Apollo 9.

The crew swap also affected who would be the first crew to land on the Moon; when the crews for Apollo 8 and 9 were swapped, their backup crews were also swapped. Since the rule of thumb was for backup crews to fly as prime crew three missions later, this put Neil Armstrong's crew (Borman's backup) in position for the first landing mission Apollo 11 instead of Pete Conrad's crew, who made the second landing on Apollo 12.

Mission highlights

Apollo 9 launches from Kennedy Space Center, March 3, 1969

Apollo 9 was the first space test of the complete Apollo spacecraft, including the third critical piece of Apollo hardware besides the Command/Service Module and the Saturn V launch vehicle—the Lunar Module. It was also the first space docking of two vehicles with an internal crew transfer between them. For ten days, the astronauts put both Apollo spacecraft through their paces in Earth orbit, including an undocking and redocking of the lunar lander with the command vehicle, just as the landing mission crew would perform in lunar orbit. Apollo 9 gave proof that the Apollo spacecraft were up to this critical task, on which the lives of lunar landing crews would depend.

For this and all subsequent Apollo flights, the crews were allowed to name their own spacecraft (the last spacecraft to have been named was Gemini 3). The gangly LM was named Spider, and the CSM was labeled Gumdrop because of the Command Module's shape, and also the blue wrapping in which the craft arrived at Kennedy Space Center. These names were required as radio call signs when the vehicles flew independently.

Schweickart and Scott performed an 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.

Apollo 9 approaches splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, March 13, 1969

McDivitt and Schweickart later test-flew the LM, and practiced separation and docking maneuvers in Earth orbit. They flew the LM up to 111 miles (179 km) from Gumdrop, using the engine on the descent stage to propel them originally, before jettisoning it and using the ascent stage to return. This test flight represented the first flight of a manned spacecraft that was not equipped to reenter the Earth's atmosphere.

The splashdown point was 23 deg 15 min N, 67 deg 56 min W, 180 miles (290 km) east of the Bahamas and within sight of the recovery ship USS Guadalcanal. Apollo 9 was the last spacecraft to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Command Module was displayed at the Michigan Space and Science Center, Jackson, Michigan, until April 2004 when the center closed. In May 2004, it was moved to the San Diego Aerospace Museum (now named the San Diego Air & Space Museum). The LM ascent stage orbit decayed on October 23, 1981, the LM descent stage (1969-018D) orbit decayed March 22, 1969. The S-IVB stage J-2 engine was restarted after Lunar Module extraction and propelled the stage into solar orbit by burning to depletion.

The Saturn IVB third stage became a derelict object where it would continue to orbit the Sun for many years. As of November 2014, it remains in orbit.

Mission insignia

The circular patch shows a drawing of a Saturn V rocket with the letters USA on it. To its right, an Apollo CSM is shown next to an LM, with the CSM's nose pointed at the "front door" of the LM rather than at its top docking port. The CSM is trailing rocket fire in a circle. The crew's names are along the top edge of the circle, with APOLLO IX at the bottom. The "D" in McDivitt's name is filled with red to mark that this was the "D mission" in the alphabetic sequence of Apollo missions. The patch was designed by Allen Stevens of Rockwell International.

Summary of maneuvers

T + Time	Event	Burn Time	Delta-Velocity	Orbit
T + 00:00:00	Lift-off
T + 00:02:14.34	S-IC center engine cut-off	141 s
T + 00:02:42.76	S-IC engine cut-off	169 s
T + 00:02:45.16	S-II ignition
T + 00:03:13.5	S-II skirt separation
T + 00:03:18.3	LES jettison
T + 00:08:56.22	S-II cut-off
T + 00:08:57	S-II cutoff + separation, S-IVB ignition
T + 00:11:04.66	S-IVB cutoff + orbital insertion	127.4 s		191.3 × 189.5 km
T + 02:41:16	CSM/S-IVB separation
T + 03:01:59.3	CSM/LM docking
T + 04:08:09	Spacecraft/S-IVB separation
T + 05:59:01.07	First Service Propulsion System (SPS) test	5.1 s	+10.4 m/s	234.1 × 200.7 km
T + 22:13:04.07	Second SPS test	110 s	+259.2 m/s	351.5 × 199.5 km
T + 25:17:39.27	Third SPS test	281.6 s	+782.6 m/s	503.4 × 202.6 km
T + 28:24:41.37	Fourth SPS test	28.2 s	-91.45 m/s	502.8 × 202.4 km
T + 49:41:34.46	Docked DPS test	369.7 s	-530.1 m/s	499.3 × 202.2 km
T + 54:26:12.27	Fifth SPS test	43.3 s	-175.6 m/s	239.3 × 229.3 km
T + 92:39:36	CSM/LM undocking
T + 93:02:54	CSM separation maneuver	10.9 s	-1.5 m/s
T + 93:47:35.4	LM Descent Propulsion System (DPS) phasing maneuver	18.6 s	+27.6 m/s	253.5 × 207 km
T + 95:39:08.6	LM DPS insertion maneuver	22.2 s	+13.1 m/s	257.2 × 248.2 km
T + 96:16:06.54	LM concentric sequence initiation maneuver/Descent stage jettison	30.3 s	-12.2 m/s	255.2 × 208.9 km
T + 96:58:15	LM Ascent Propulsion System (APS) constant delta height maneuver	2.9 s	-12.6 m/s	215.6 × 207.2 km
T + 97:57:59	LM terminal phase finalization maneuver	34.7 s	+6.8 m/s	232.8 × 208.5 km
T + 99:02:26	CSM/LM docking
T + 101:22:45	LM ascent stage jettison
T + 101:32:44	Post-jettison CSM separation maneuver	7.2 s	+0.9 m/s	235.7 × 224.6 km
T + 101:53:15.4	LM APS burn to depletion	350 s	+1,643.2 m/s	6,934.4 × 230.6 km
T + 123:25:06.97	Sixth SPS test	1.29 s	-11.5 m/s	222.6 × 195.2 km
T + 169:39:00.36	Seventh SPS test	25 s	+199.6 m/s	463.4 × 181.1 km
T + 240:31:14.84	Deorbit burn (SPS)	11.6 s	-99.1 m/s	442.2 × -7.8 km
T + 240:36:03.8	SM jettison
T + 241:00:54	Splashdown

Pictures

• 

  The Lunar Module awaits extraction from Apollo 9's S-IVB stage

• 

  David Scott stands in the opened Command Module hatch

• 

  Rusty Schweickart stands on the porch of Spider during his extravehicular activity on the fourth day of the mission

• 

  Apollo 9 LM Spider

• 

  LM Spider over ocean

• 

  The LM Spider ascent stage on the fifth day of the mission

Spacecraft location

The Apollo 9 Command Module Gumdrop (1969-018A) is on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego, California. Its Service Module (SM) was jettisoned shortly after the deorbit burn and decayed during reentry of the Command Module.

The ascent stage of LM-3 Spider (1969-018C) decayed on October 23, 1981.

The descent stage of LM-3 Spider (1969-018D) decayed March 22, 1969.

The upper stage of the Apollo 9 Saturn V, S-IVB-504N, (1969-018B) remains in heliocentric (solar) orbit as of 2014.

See also

• Extra-vehicular activity
• List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
• Splashdown

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Bibliography

• Baker, David (1982). The History of Manned Space Flight (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-54377-X. 

External links

• "Apollo 9" at Encyclopedia Astronautica
• NSSDC Master Catalog at NASA

NASA reports

• Apollo 9 Press Kit (PDF), NASA, Release No. 69-29, February 23, 1969
• "Table 2-37. Apollo 9 Characteristics" from NASA Historical Data Book: Volume III: Programs and Projects 1969–1978 by Linda Neuman Ezell, NASA History Series, NASA SP-4012, (1988)
• "Appendix 6 - Crews and Support for Manned Apollo Flights". The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology. Volume IV. NASA. 1978. OCLC 23818. NASA SP-4009. Archived from the original on February 5, 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2008. 
• "Apollo 9 flight plan AS-504/CSM-104/LM-3 Final Report" (PDF) by J. V. Rivers, NASA, February 1969
• The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology NASA, NASA SP-4009
• "Apollo Program Summary Report" (PDF), NASA, JSC-09423, April 1975

Multimedia

• Apollo 9: Three To Make Ready Official NASA documentary film (1969)
• Apollo 9 16mm onboard film part 1, part 2 raw footage taken from Apollo 9
• Apollo 9: The Space Duet of Spider & Gumdrop Official NASA documentary film (1969), OCLC 7682161
• Apollo 9 images at NASA'S Kennedy Space Center
• Apollo launch and mission videos at ApolloTV.net