Jun 20, 2025
Viewing the S-IVB stage over Lunar Module Spider RCS thrusters, Apollo 9
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Viewing the S-IVB stage over Lunar Module Spider RCS thrusters, Apollo 9
Apollo 9 Gumdrop (CSM-104) prior docking with the Lunar Module Spider (LM-3).
Date: March 7, 1969
NASA ID: AS09-24-3631, AS09-24-3624, AS09-24-3652
Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart walks in space, March 6, 1969.
Apollo 9 launches from Kennedy Space Center, March 3, 1969
The view ain’t all that bad. Apollo 9 astronaut David Scott takes it all in in this epic photograph by crewmate Rusty Schweickart, March 1969. The 10-day mission commanded by James McDivitt saw the first crewed flight of the Lunar Module.
LIFE Magazine following the completion of Apollo 9, March 14, 1969
Launch of Apollo 9 on 3 March 1969. Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight to carry both the Apollo command and service module (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM).
Crew portrait. From left to right: Commander James McDivitt; Command Module Pilot David Scott; Lunar Module Pilot Russell Schweickart.
The mission carried astronauts McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart on a ten-day shakedown flight of the LM, putting it through its paces and demonstrating the descent and ascent propulsion systems necessary to land on and return from the Moon.
Images of the Lunar Module as seen from the Apollo CSM.
Apollo 9 also tested the use of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), which consisted of a pressure suit and the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpack. The PLSS supplied astronauts with oxygen and water for their liquid-cooled garments during extravehicular activities. A more advanced version of the EMU would later be used during the Apollo 11 landing.
Schweickart standing on the LM “porch,” testing the EMU. The PLSS backpack can be partially seen behind him.
With the bulk of these activities scheduled for the first five days of the flight, the remaining five were more relaxed, with the crew testing Hasselblad cameras and film sensitive to different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. These tests proved beneficial to the development of the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, a precursor to the Landsat series of Earth-imaging satellites.
Apollo 9 would conclude its mission on 18 March 1969 when it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by the USS Guadalcanal.
Splashdown of Apollo 9.
NASA, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Adam Ant
Apollo 9 (1984)