Apollo 9 Mission

Apollo 9 Mission

The Apollo 9 (AS-504) mission was the first manned flight of the Lunar Module. The crew were James A McDivitt-Commander, David R Scott-Command Module Pilot, Russel (Rusty) L Schweickart, Lunar Module pilot. Launch was initially planned for 28th February 1969, but was postponed for three days due to all three crew members suffering from a respiratory virus. The countdown proceeded without any hitches and the AS-504 Space vehicle was launched from LC-39, Kennedy Space Centre, on Monday 3rd March 1969. Recovery of the crew and Command module was successfully completed on 13th March 1969, with a flight duration of 241 hours & 53 seconds.

The primary objectives of the mission were, in NASA words

Demonstrate crew/space vehicle/mission support facilities performance during a manned Saturn V mission with CSM and LM

Demonstrate LM/crew performance

Demonstrate performance of nominal and selected backup Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) mission activities, including

Transposition, docking, LM withdrawal

Intervehicular crew transfer

SPS and DPS burns

LM active rendezvous and docking

CSM/LM consumables assessment

The crew named their spacecraft, as they would be independently operated and needed callsigns to identify them. The command module (CSM-104) was christened Gumdrop, and the Lunar Module (LM-3) was named Spider. During his EVA Rusty was given the callsign Red Rover, no doubt alluding to his flame red hair

Apollo 9 marked the second manned flight of the Saturn V, the first manned flight of the Lunar module and was conducted in earth orbit. As with all the manned test flights, Apollo's 7, 8, 9, & 10, it was a crucial flight in that if it had failed to meet any of the primary objectives it is highly likely that first Lunar Landing may not have taken place when it did, and the history books would be telling us a different story. The objectives listed above contain a lot of "firsts". The Lunar module was in its infancy, and LM-3 was late being delivered. This delay had meant that Apollo 8, which was originally planned to be the first mission with a manned Lunar Module aboard was sent on a mission to loop around the moon and back. For a manned landing to happen NASA had to test and prove that they could separate the CSM from the third stage, turn it around, then dock with the Lunar Module and extract it from its resting position atop the third stage. The next step was then to remove the docking probe from its position in the "tunnel" between the two vehicles so that the crew could move between them. Once these activities had been achieved the next thing to do was to fire the engine of the Command & Service Module (SPS), with the LM still attached to make sure that the docking mechanism could hold the two together. Next on the flight plan was to check out the Lunar module descent engine (DPS), again whilst still docked. An interesting aside is that the next and only other time this happened was during the Apollo 13 mission when the LM -Aquarius was used as a “lifeboat”. Another crucial first was to trial the Apollo spacesuit configured with the backpack which allowed the wearer independence to operate in space and on the moons’ surface. The original plan had the LM pilot, Rusty Schweickart, to exit the lunar module and transfer to the command module. Due to a bout of space sickness this was cut back to him exiting the Lunar module and testing the suit, and demonstrating that he could move around just outside the LM front hatch. Whilst this was happening the Command Module Pilot, Dave Scott, carried out a standup EVA, in which he opened the CM hatch and stood up, but did not leave the vehicle. During these activities both men also retrieved samples of insulation material that were attached to the outside surfaces of the CM & LM. These samples were returned to earth for analysis. It was now time for another critical test, for the mission to succeed the Lunar Module had to separate from the Command module, land on the moon, then take off from the moon and find the Command module in orbit. Although some of these concepts had been proved during the Gemini missions it was the first time that the Apollo hardware, and computer systems were tested in anger. Around about 89 Hours into the mission the spacecraft undocked, and LM-3 call sign Spider flew alone. Spider moved away from Gumdrop to a distance of 10 miles below and 82 miles behind. During the flight they checked that the Lunar Modules systems functioned correctly, including the landing radar, and the maneuvering thruster systems (RCS). Then the ascent stage was separated from the descent stage, and a burn of its engine simulated the take-off from the moon. The last stage of the flight of Spider was to "find" and dock with the Command and Service Module Gumdrop. This was completed successfully and after the commander and Lunar module pilot were safely back aboard the Command Module, the ascent stage of the LM-Spider was bade farewell, and cut loose. Spider circled earth for the best part of 12 years before re-entering the earths atmosphere on October 23rd, 1981. The SIV-B third stage was sent into solar orbit and remains there, circling to this day.

The flight was considered by NASA as a total success, and there were only a few minor hiccups