Apollo 9

“The Spider’s First Mission”

Crew: James A. McDivitt (Commander); Russell L. Schweickart (Lunar Module Pilot); David R. Scott (Command Module Pilot)

Launch Vehicle: Saturn V

Spacecraft: Gumdrop (CSM-104), Spider (LM-3)

Launch Date: March 3, 1969

Return Date: March 13, 1969

The primary purpose of Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight of a Lunar Module (nicknamed “Spider”) - this time in Earth orbit. The astronauts performed docking and rendezvous between a CM and LM twice: once to extract the LM from the S-IVB and once while the LM was active. The crew also performed a spacewalk and simulated a rescue of astronauts from the LM in space.