Apollo 9, launching on March 3, 1969, was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. The three-man crew consisted of Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. During the ten-day mission, they tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon, including the Lunar Module (LM) engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems and docking maneuvers. The mission concluded on March 13 and it proved the LM worthy of crewed spaceflight, setting the stage for the dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, Apollo 10, before the ultimate goal, landing on the Moon.
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| Photo: The Apollo 9 crew suited up during a training on February 25, 1969. The launch was postponed from February 28 to March 3, 1969 because all three astronauts had colds. |
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| Apollo 9 Heritage Crafts cachet launch cover, with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancel dated March 3, 1969, the launch day for this important mission - the first flight of the lunar module. Signed by Dave Scott, James McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart. This came from the collection of Steven R. Belasco. - Heritage Auction |
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| Photo: The Apollo 9 crew (from left to right), Rusty Schweickart, James McDivitt, Dave Scott, and their mission insignia. This photograph was taken at a news conference on February 8, 1969. |
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| Apollo 9 commemorative cover with printed cachet of the mission
insignia, postmarked at KSC on launch day of the mission. Signed by James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart and Dave Scott. This cover is addressed to E. Clinton Towl, a founder and a former chief executive of the Grumman Corporation. While working on Wall Street he became one of the people who contributed money and helped found the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in 1929. Towl spent the rest of his career at Grumman in a variety of capacities advancing from bookkeeper to treasurer to vice president until 1960 when he was elected president. He served as chairman and chief executive from 1966 until 1975. Towl provided leadership for Grumman’s diversified programs including negotiating the Lunar Module contract with NASA in 1962. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 crew at news conferences. |
The mission was flown to qualify the LM for lunar orbit operations in preparation for the first Moon landing by demonstrating its descent and ascent propulsion systems, showing that its crew could fly it independently, then rendezvous and dock with the CSM again, as would be required for the first crewed lunar landing. Other objectives of the flight included firing the LM descent engine to propel the spacecraft stack as a backup mode (as would be required on the Apollo 13 mission), and use of the portable life support system backpack outside the LM cabin.
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| Apollo 9 official NASA cachet on cover with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancel on launch day, March 3, 1969. Signed by James McDivitt, Dave Scott and Rusty Schweickart. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 commander, James McDivitt. |
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| Apollo 9 Orbit Covers cachet cover, postmarked March 3, 1969 at Cape Canaveral, signed by James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart and Dave Scott. |
After launching on March 3, 1969, the crew performed the first crewed flight of a lunar module, the first docking and extraction of the same, one two-person spacewalk (EVA), and the second docking of two crewed spacecraft — two months after the Soviets performed a spacewalk crew transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5.
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| Apollo 9 launch cover, postmarked March 3, 1969 at Cape Canaveral, signed by James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart and Dave Scott. |
The flight plan for the third day in space was to have the commander and lunar module pilot enter the LM to check out its systems and use its descent engine to move the entire spacecraft.
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| McDivitt and Schweickart entered the LM on March 5, 1969, making the first ever transfer between vehicles without needing to spacewalk for the first time in the US space program - two months after the Soviets performed a spacewalk crew transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. This cover postmarked at Cape Canaveral was signed by James McDivitt. |
On March 6, 1969, Schweickart exited the hatch on the LM and make his way along the outside of the spacecraft to the command module's hatch, where Scott would stand by to assist, demonstrating that this could be done in the event of an emergency.
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| Rusty Schweickart performed the first Apollo 9 spacewalk on March 6, 1969. |
On March 7, 1969, McDivitt and Schweickart undocked inside the lunar module and fired its descent engine twice, flying to an orbit 20 kilometers higher than that of the command and service modules, where Scott remained. They jettisoned the lunar module’s descent stage and fired its ascent stage engine, marking the first time the engine was used in space. They navigated the ascent stage back to a rendezvous with the command and service modules, simulating a return from the lunar surface.
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| First manned test of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), postmarked March 7, 1969, at Cape Canaveral, signed by Rusty Schweickart and James McDivitt. - RRAuction |
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| First manned link-up between lunar and command modules, NASA local post cover postmarked March 7, 1969, at Houston. |
Apollo 9 was to remain in space for about ten days to check how the command and service module (CSM) would perform over the period of time required for a lunar mission. Most major events had been scheduled for the first days so that they would be accomplished if the flight needed to be ended early. The remaining days in orbit were to be conducted at a more leisurely pace. With the main goals of the mission accomplished, McDivitt and Schweickart performed special photography of Earth through the hatch window using Hasselblad cameras, while testing of the CSM was carried out by Scott.
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| Rendezvous with the command and service modules to simulate a return from the lunar surface, postmarked March 7, 1969, at Cape Canaveral, signed by Dave Scott. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 splashdown near Grand Turk Island, March 13, 1969. |
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| The Apollo 9 crew featured on the front of the postcard, postmarked on USS Guadalcanal with Beck rubber stamped cachet and ship's cachet at the back. |
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| Photo: "As the USS Guadalcanal stands by, a helicopter hovers over the Apollo 9 command module during recovery operation. UPI Radiophoto March 13, 1969." |
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| Apollo 9 USS Guadalcanal recovery ship cover with Beck rubber stamped cachet and ship's stamp cachet in maroon. This hand cancel variation with ship name on the top. - RegencyStamps |
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| Apollo 9 USS Guadalcanal recovery ship cover with Beck rubber stamped cachet and ship's stamp cachet in black. This hand cancel variation with ship name at the bottom. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 crew walking down the red carpet on USS Guadalcanal recovery ship, March 13, 1969. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 crew and captain Roy Sudduth, skipper of USS Guadalcanal. |
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| Apollo 9 USS Guadalcanal recovery ship cover with Beck rubber stamped cachet. Signed by Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott and Rusty Schweickart. |
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| Beck printed cachet cover B782 with USS Guadalcanal at bottom of the hand cancel, signed by Dave Scott. |
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| Photo: Apollo 9 capsule hoisted aboard USS Guadalcanal. |
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| Apollo 9 USS Guadalcanal recovery ship cover with Apollo 7 Beck rubber stamped cachet. |
(Reference from
Apollo 9)
