Apollo 9
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, it terrified the United States. The nation had already been moving towards launching satellites, but it had been going slowly, and the fact that the USSR was ahead was a shock. Nor would it get any better: in 1961, the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit on Vostok 1. Even as the US struggled to catch up, it seemed like the Soviets owned space: a Russian orbited first, made the first rendezvous, put the first woman in space, made the first spacewalk. With the Cold War at one of its peaks, something had to be done. President John F. Kennedy put the challenge to both NASA and the American people: beat the Soviets to the Moon.
This task had to be done in steps. First came Project Mercury, which was to get single-man capsules into space at all. Then Gemini got two astronauts up at a time and practiced long duration flights and rendezvous in space. Apollo, with three-man spacecraft, would get men to the Moon. The technical challenges alone, just for Apollo, were staggering: how to get there, how to put astronauts on the Moon safely, and how to get them home. Eventually, NASA settled on a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM) that would carry the three astronauts into orbit and home; the service module (SM) that held fuel and oxygen; and the lunar module (LM) that would take two of the three down to the Moon's surface and back. All three would be "stacked" atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever constructed. Of the gigantic structure, only the CM would actually return home.
Before the Apollo program actually got to the Moon, however, there was going to be a lot of testing--especially after the Apollo 1 fire took the lives of three astronauts. NASA took each step at a time, sending up unmanned missions to test equipment (Apollo 4 through 6), then a manned mission (Apollo 7). Apollo 8 was originally supposed to be another test mission, but circumstances intervened: the LM was behind schedule, morale at NASA was declining because of the delays, and there was a real fear that the Soviets would still win the Space Race. In the end, Apollo 8 went to the Moon without the LM, in a successful effort to be the first men to reach it, if not land on it. As a result, the tests for Apollo 8 were moved to Apollo 9.
The Apollo 9 crew consisted of James McDivitt, David Scott, and Rusty Schweickart; aside from the latter, the other two men had flown in space with Gemini. The crew was asked if they wanted to take Apollo 8, since they were next on the crew rotation and it would make them the first human beings to go to the Moon. However, the crew felt that their training was for testing the LM, so they would be better suited to Apollo 9.
Apollo 9 was launched on 3 March 1969, and though it would go no further than low Earth orbit, it would perform the vital tests of if the LM could function. Scott and Schweickart would separate the LM from the CM, fly alongside, and practice docking with the CM, both functions that would have to be performed at the Moon. Schweickart would also test the backpack life support system for Moon astronauts and perform a spacewalk. Finally, the LM's descent engine would be tested to see if it could propel the "stack" of the LM, CM, and SM.
The mission went nearly perfectly. All the tests were performed, and the LM proved it was ready for the Moon, with Scott and Schweickart flying it over 100 miles away from the CM before redocking. The only incident that marred Apollo 9 was Schweickart kept getting nauseated, which at the time worried NASA scientists (and likely led to Schweickart never going into space again); it is now known that spatial disorentation in space is a common and temporary phenomenon. Once the tests were complete, the LM was jettisoned and the three astronauts remained in space for another five days, conducting photographic experiments more or less at their leisure, returning to Earth on 13 March. The success of Apollo 9 meant that Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" at the Moon, could go forward, which in turn led to Apollo 11 making the successful landing in July 1969.
Once cleared for display, Apollo 9's CM--nicknamed "Gumdrop" for its shape (the LM had been nicknamed "Spider")--was placed on display at the Michigan Space and Science Center, but when that museum closed in 2004, it was moved to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Apollo 9 marked the fifth of six Apollo modules I've been able to see--Apollos 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15, plus Apollo-Soyuz the next day in Los Angeles. I was surprised to see how shiny Apollo 9 was to other Apollos I've seen, and thought maybe the museum had cleaned it up for display--but no, it really was this shiny when it splashed down.
Apollo 9
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, it terrified the United States. The nation had already been moving towards launching satellites, but it had been going slowly, and the fact that the USSR was ahead was a shock. Nor would it get any better: in 1961, the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit on Vostok 1. Even as the US struggled to catch up, it seemed like the Soviets owned space: a Russian orbited first, made the first rendezvous, put the first woman in space, made the first spacewalk. With the Cold War at one of its peaks, something had to be done. President John F. Kennedy put the challenge to both NASA and the American people: beat the Soviets to the Moon.
This task had to be done in steps. First came Project Mercury, which was to get single-man capsules into space at all. Then Gemini got two astronauts up at a time and practiced long duration flights and rendezvous in space. Apollo, with three-man spacecraft, would get men to the Moon. The technical challenges alone, just for Apollo, were staggering: how to get there, how to put astronauts on the Moon safely, and how to get them home. Eventually, NASA settled on a three-part spacecraft: the command module (CM) that would carry the three astronauts into orbit and home; the service module (SM) that held fuel and oxygen; and the lunar module (LM) that would take two of the three down to the Moon's surface and back. All three would be "stacked" atop a Saturn V rocket, the most powerful rocket ever constructed. Of the gigantic structure, only the CM would actually return home.
Before the Apollo program actually got to the Moon, however, there was going to be a lot of testing--especially after the Apollo 1 fire took the lives of three astronauts. NASA took each step at a time, sending up unmanned missions to test equipment (Apollo 4 through 6), then a manned mission (Apollo 7). Apollo 8 was originally supposed to be another test mission, but circumstances intervened: the LM was behind schedule, morale at NASA was declining because of the delays, and there was a real fear that the Soviets would still win the Space Race. In the end, Apollo 8 went to the Moon without the LM, in a successful effort to be the first men to reach it, if not land on it. As a result, the tests for Apollo 8 were moved to Apollo 9.
The Apollo 9 crew consisted of James McDivitt, David Scott, and Rusty Schweickart; aside from the latter, the other two men had flown in space with Gemini. The crew was asked if they wanted to take Apollo 8, since they were next on the crew rotation and it would make them the first human beings to go to the Moon. However, the crew felt that their training was for testing the LM, so they would be better suited to Apollo 9.
Apollo 9 was launched on 3 March 1969, and though it would go no further than low Earth orbit, it would perform the vital tests of if the LM could function. Scott and Schweickart would separate the LM from the CM, fly alongside, and practice docking with the CM, both functions that would have to be performed at the Moon. Schweickart would also test the backpack life support system for Moon astronauts and perform a spacewalk. Finally, the LM's descent engine would be tested to see if it could propel the "stack" of the LM, CM, and SM.
The mission went nearly perfectly. All the tests were performed, and the LM proved it was ready for the Moon, with Scott and Schweickart flying it over 100 miles away from the CM before redocking. The only incident that marred Apollo 9 was Schweickart kept getting nauseated, which at the time worried NASA scientists (and likely led to Schweickart never going into space again); it is now known that spatial disorentation in space is a common and temporary phenomenon. Once the tests were complete, the LM was jettisoned and the three astronauts remained in space for another five days, conducting photographic experiments more or less at their leisure, returning to Earth on 13 March. The success of Apollo 9 meant that Apollo 10, the "dress rehearsal" at the Moon, could go forward, which in turn led to Apollo 11 making the successful landing in July 1969.
Once cleared for display, Apollo 9's CM--nicknamed "Gumdrop" for its shape (the LM had been nicknamed "Spider")--was placed on display at the Michigan Space and Science Center, but when that museum closed in 2004, it was moved to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Apollo 9 marked the fifth of six Apollo modules I've been able to see--Apollos 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15, plus Apollo-Soyuz the next day in Los Angeles. I was surprised to see how shiny Apollo 9 was to other Apollos I've seen, and thought maybe the museum had cleaned it up for display--but no, it really was this shiny when it splashed down.