Apollo 9

Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched 3 March 1969. It was the second manned flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle and the first manned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM).

Original mission profile

In October 1967, it was planned that following the first manned orbital flight of the 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 few days later the Lunar Module launched on a second Saturn 1B to practise the first orbit rendevous. McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart were given this mission, with Frank Borman, James 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.

Related Topics:
Apollo 7 - Frank Borman - James Lovell - William Anders - Saturn V

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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 inbetween 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.

Related Topics:
1969 - Apollo 8 - Neil Armstrong - Pete Conrad

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