Final Preparation: Apollo 9 and Apollo 10

The mission insignia for Apollo 9.

Apollo 7 had been a confidence booster, and Apollo 8 had proved that man could get to the moon and orbit it. With Apollo 9, the real work had to begin.

Apollo 9 was originally meant to fly before Apollo 8, but delays in the construction of the lunar module meant eventually the mission had to be put back. In the mean time, NASA launched the Apollo 8 mission so they would still be on target for a before-end-of-decade landing. This is why Apollo 9, though the later mission, did not actually visit the moon – despite Apollo 8 proving it was possible.

The Apollo 9 mission was one of the most difficult flight itenaries any of the astronauts had ever seen. The three astronauts had to do things no one had ever done before, using space craft – particularly the lunar module – that had never flown in space before. It was a key mission, which involved extremely tricky flying, and it needed a brilliant crew.

“But this crew…” – McDivitt, Schweickart and Scott.

The Apollo 9 crew had actually been in training for nearly three years by the time they actually made it off the pad. The two astronauts who would fly the lunar module – the Mission Commander and Lunar Module Pilot – were heavily involved in the building of the lunar module and even declined the chance to be the first to orbit the moon so they could fly their ship. The crew of Apollo 9:

• Jim McDivitt. McDivitt had previously flown Gemini 4, remaining inside the space craft during Ed White’s historic space walk. Apollo 9 would be McDivitt’s final flight of the space programme. He was the Mission Commander.
• Dave Scott. Dave Scott had an illustrious career with NASA; he flew one Gemini mission (Gemini 8, with Neil Armstrong) and two Apollo missions; he would go on to command Apollo 15, and become the seventh man to walk on the moon. For Apollo 9, he was the Command Module Pilot.
• Rusty Schweickart. Schweickart was a rookie, and Apollo 9 would be his only space flight. For Apollo 9, he was the Lunar Module Pilot.

The crew of Apollo 9: (L-R) Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott and Rusty Schweickhart.

A Total Test

Apollo 9 was the first and absolute test of the space craft that would eventually land on the moon. It launched on March 3rd 1969 and the mission lasted for ten days in lower earth orbit. The amount of “firsts” accomplished on the mission are almost too numerous to count, but include:

• The first two man stand up EVA (extra vehicular activity), when Scott left the command module and Schweickhart left the lunar module.
• The first flight of the lunar module in space.
• Dave Scott became the first man to the orbit earth solo while the lunar module and command module were separated (as would be necessary for a lunar landing).

Dave Scott, photographed by Schweickhart, during his EVA from the Command Module 'Gumdrop'.

There had actually been doubts over the EVAs happening at all, when Schweickhart suffered badly with space sickness. There was a fear that he could asphixiate if he were to be sick in his suit during the EVA, but eventually the EVA was permitted. Schweickhart was fine, and also experienced a golden moment of having nothing to do but look at the view of the earth during the EVA when Scott’s camera broke. Free time on an EVA – or any Apollo mission – was virtually unheard of.

'Spider' flies. The first lunar module flies in space, piloted by McDivitt and Schweickhart, and photographed by Dave Scott from the command module.

The most crucial success of Apollo 9 was the flight of ‘Spider’, the call sign given to the first lunar module to fly in space. NASA now had a machine that could land on the moon, and they knew it could undock and dock with the command modules. They were very nearly ready for the lunar landing.

8.4 Nautical Miles: Apollo 10 and the Ultimate Dress Rehearsal

On one hand, the astronauts chosen to fly Apollo 10 must have been delighted. Like their Apollo 8 counterparts, they were to orbit the moon, and like their Apollo 9 colleagues, they would fly the lunar module. It was a peach of a mission.

The Apollo 10 insignia.

Unfortunately, history has dealt a cruel blow to Apollo 10 though at the time its achievements were huge. Apollo 10, essentially, did everything that the next mission would do (Apollo 11) with one crucial difference: they would not actually land on the moon.

Apollo 10 is the “everything but” mission, the final step before the actual lunar landing. The downside to this mission was that the astronuats would definitely not be flying the first lunar landing mission – and that was the one everyone wanted. But Apollo 10 was essential to the progress of the Apollo missions; without it, Apollo 11 and its historic small step would never have taken place.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy

The crew of Apollo 10: (L-R) Eugene Cernan, John Young and Thomas Stafford.

Apollo 10 would be flown by an all-veteran crew, for the first time.  Eugene Cernan and John Young  would walk on the moon with later Apollo missions. The command module for Apollo 10 was nicknamed Charlie Brown, so naturally the lunar module became known as Snoopy.

The Apollo 10 mission was truly a dress rehearsal for both the space craft (with the exception of the landing) and the staff on the ground, and was treated as such. On May 22nd 1969, Snoopy flew just 8.4 nautical miles from the surface of the moon. Pilots Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan looked out over the Sea of Tranquility, which was soon to play host to the next Apollo lunar module.

Apollo 10 command module 'Charlie Brown', photographed from the lunar module 'Snoopy'.

With the successful conclusion of Apollo 10 and the astronauts returned safely to earth, NASA was ready. Only two months later, Snoopy would be a distant memory: it was all about the Eagle now.