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Apollo 9 |
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Crew
Backup crew
Support crewFlight directors
Mission parameters
LM - CSM dockingEVA
See alsoOriginal mission profileIn October 1967, it was planned that following the first manned orbital flight of the Command/Service Module (CSM) (Apollo 7, also known as the C Mission), the second manned Apollo mission (D Mission) would have a manned CSM launched on a Saturn 1B, and a day later the Lunar Module launched on a second Saturn 1B to practice the first orbit rendezvous. McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart were given this mission, with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders being assigned to a later, similar Earth-orbit test (E Mission), this time using the Saturn V to carry both the CSM and LM.However, 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 (with no LM) 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 - but 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 1Bs. This had long lasting consequence - when the crew rotation for Apollos 8 and 9 were swapped, their backup crews were also swapped, putting Neil Armstrong and his crew (who were Borman, Lovell and Anders' backups) in line for the first manned landing mission instead of Pete Conrad and his crew. Mission highlightsApollo 9 was the first space test of the complete Apollo spacecraft, including 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. Apollo 9 gave proof that the Apollo machines were up to the task of orbital rendezvous and docking.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 lunar module was named "Spider", and the command module was labelled "Gumdrop" on account of the blue wrapping in which the craft arrived at KSC. 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 activity 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, this was restricted to the stand up test in the Lunar Module hatch. McDivitt and Schweickart later testflew the LM, and practiced separation and docking maneuvers in earth orbit. They flew the LM up to 111 miles from "Gumdrop", using the engine on the descent stage to propel them originally, before jettisoning it and using the ascent stage to return. 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. 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. The LM ascent stage orbit decayed on 23 October 1981, the LM descent stage (1969-018D) orbit decayed 22 March 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 crew sang the song "Happy Birthday To You" on March 8, 1969. Mission insigniaThe circular patch shows drawings of a Saturn V rocket with the letters USA on it. To its right, an Apollo CSM is shown next to a 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 pre-lunar landing missions.Apollo 9 maneuver summary
Pictures
Capsule locationThe Apollo 9 Command Module “Gumdrop” is on display at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, San Diego, CaliforniaDepiction in fictionPortions of the Apollo 9 mission are dramatized in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon episode entitled "Spider".References
External links
Saturn V The first Saturn V, AS-501, before the launch of Apollo 4 Fact sheet Function Manned LEO and Lunar launch vehicle Manufacturer Boeing (S-IC) North American (S-II) Douglas (S-IVB) Country of origin ..... Click the link for more information. The Command/Service Module (CSM) was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft. ..... Click the link for more information. Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program to achieve the transit from moon orbit to the surface and back. The module was also known as the LM ..... Click the link for more information. This article contains information regarding a spaceport which is either currently in the process of launching, or is scheduled to launch within the next week. Details may change as the countdown and ascent progress. ..... Click the link for more information. Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or . ..... Click the link for more information. Launch Complex 39 An aerial view of Launch Complex 39 Launch Site Kennedy Space Center Location Short name LC-39 Operator NASA Total launches 136 (13 Saturn V, 4 Saturn 1B, 119 Shuttle) Launch pads ..... Click the link for more information. March 3 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events
..... Click the link for more information. 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 1966 1967 1968 - 1969 - 1970 1971 1972
..... Click the link for more information. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a high-precision atomic time standard. UTC has uniform seconds defined by International Atomic Time (TAI), with leap seconds announced at irregular intervals to compensate for the earth's slowing rotation and other discrepancies. ..... Click the link for more information. March 13 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events
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..... Click the link for more information. Apollo 8 Mission insignia Mission statistics Mission name: Apollo 8 Command Module: CM-103 Service Module: SM-103 Lunar Module: Lunar Test Article (LTA-B) ..... Click the link for more information. Apollo 10 Mission insignia Mission statistics[1] Mission name: Apollo 10 Command Module: CM-106 Service Module: SM-106 Lunar Module: LM-4 ..... Click the link for more information. Apollo program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961 – 1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. John F. Kennedy announced this goal in 1961, and it was accomplished on July 20 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ..... Click the link for more information. A geocentric orbit is an orbit of any object orbiting the Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. Currently there are approximately 2465 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth and 6216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center. ..... Click the link for more information. March 3 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events
..... Click the link for more information. 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 1966 1967 1968 - 1969 - 1970 1971 1972
..... Click the link for more information. Saturn V The first Saturn V, AS-501, before the launch of Apollo 4 Fact sheet Function Manned LEO and Lunar launch vehicle Manufacturer Boeing (S-IC) North American (S-II) Douglas (S-IVB) Country of origin ..... Click the link for more information. Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program to achieve the transit from moon orbit to the surface and back. The module was also known as the LM ..... Click the link for more information. James Alton McDivitt Astronaut Nationality American Born May 10 1929 ..... Click the link for more information. David Randolph Scott Astronaut Nationality American Born May 6 1932 ..... Click the link for more information. Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart NASA Astronaut Nationality American Born September 25 1935 ..... Click the link for more information. Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. NASA Astronaut Nationality American Born June 2, 1930 Philadelphia, PA Died July 8, 1999 (age 69) Ojai, California Other occupation Test Pilot ..... Click the link for more information. Richard Francis Gordon, Jr. NASA Astronaut Nationality American Born September 5 1929 ..... Click the link for more information. Alan LaVern Bean Astronaut Nationality American Born March 15 1932 ..... Click the link for more information. Clifton Curtis 'C.C.' Williams NASA Astronaut Nationality American Status Died during training Born September 26, 1932 Mobile, Alabama Died October 5, 1967 (age 35) ..... Click the link for more information. October 5 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events..... Click the link for more information. 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 1964 1965 1966 - 1967 - 1968 1969 1970 Year 1967 (MCMLXVII ..... Click the link for more information. Type Advanced trainer Manufacturer Northrop Corporation Designed by Edgar Schmued Maiden flight 10 March 1959 Introduced 17 March 1961 Status Operational Primary users United States Air Force NASA Luftwaffe ..... Click the link for more information. Fred Wallace Haise, Jr. Astronaut Nationality American Born November 14 1933 ..... Click the link for more information. This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia® - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the Wikipedia® encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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