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Apollo 9
Launched: 3 March1969
Splashed Down: 13 March1969
Crew:
James A McDivitt
David R Scott
Russell L Schweickart
This mission was the first flight test of the Lunar Module, the third critical piece of Apollo hardware. During ten days in earth orbit, the crew undocked, manoeuvered and docked the LM and the Command Modules, simulating as closely as possible the conditions that would be encountered when men finally would land on the Moon itself.
This mission also tested the Apollo spacesuit, the first to carry self-contained life support rather than being dependent on an umbilical connection.
This was the first Apollo mission where the astronauts were granted the honour, often exercised rather whimsically, of naming their spacecraft. The Apollo 9 astronauts named the Command Module 'Gumdrop' and the Lunar Module 'Spider'
After Apollo 8, Apollo 9 was a bit of an anticlimax, but was another absolutely necessary step that was necessary in putting an astronaut on the Moon
Mission Details:
Apollo-9 (25)
Pad 39-A (4)
Saturn-V AS-504 (4)
High Bay 3
MLP 2
Firing Room 2
Payload:
CSM-104 (Gumdrop) and LM-3 (Spider)
Mission Objective:
Demonstrate crew/space vehicle/mission support facilities during manned Saturn V/CSM/LM mission (Achieved). Demonstrate LM/crew performance (Achieved). Demonstrate selected lunar orbit rendezvous mission activities including transposition, docking withdrawal, intervehicular crew transfer, EVA, SPS and DPS burns, and LM active rendezvous and docking. All achieved except EVA (because of Schweickart's illness, most EVA's were cancelled). Assess CSM/LM consumables used
Launch:
March 03, 1969; 11:00:00 EST. Launch Complex 39-A Kennedy Space Center. No delays.
Orbit:
Altitude: 192km x 190km
Orbits:
Duration: 10 Days, 01 hours, min, seconds
Landing:
13 March 1969 at 12:01 EST; Landing point 23deg 12.5min North and 67deg 56min West (Atlantic Ocean). Miss distance 4.8 kilometres. Crew on board USS Guadalcanal at 12:45 EST; Spacecraft aboard ship at 14:13
Mission Highlights:
Apogee, 192 km, perigee, 190km; first manned Apollo docking 03:01:59 MET; first docked SPS burn, 05:59:01 MET; first Apollo EVA, 72:53:00 MET. First manned Apollo undocking, 92:39:36 MET; first manned LM to CSM docking, 99:02:26 MET;
First manned flight of all lunar hardware in Earth orbit. Schweickart performed 37 minutes EVA. Human reactions to space and weightlessness tested in 152 orbits. First manned flight of lunar module.
