246 a
These pictures from the second live TV transmission from Apollo 9 were made on the fourth day in space following Schweickart’s EVA and show McDivitt (foreground) and Schweickart at their crew stations (first photograph) and the hatch of the tunnel connecting the LM and the CSM (second photograph). At this moment Apollo 9 was orbiting Earth with the CSM Gumdrop docked nose-to-nose with the LM Spider. David Scott remained at the controls in Gumdrop while the other two astronauts checked out the LM. McDivitt and Schweickart moved into the LM from the CM by way of the docking tunnel.
074:58:20 Schweickart (Spider): Okay. We are in the process of recharging the PLSS (Portable Life Support System). We have recharged it with oxygen, and we’ve just put in the water, and we are going to vent now.
074:58:32 Mission Control: Roger. Your picture is good. We can see you loud and clear going down the checklist there like a good pilot.
075:11:43 Mission Control: And could we give it a try up the tunnel? It’s probably pretty dark, but we’d like to see how it comes in.
075:11:54 McDivitt (Spider): Hey, I’m not sure. Say, Dave, is the tunnel pressurized or not?
075:12:00 Scott (Gumdrop): Yes. It’s pressurized.
075:12:02 McDivitt (Spider): Okay. It’s still ... We don’t have the tunnel open, and we can’t get it open very far because we still have the OPS (Oxygen Purge System)’s on the back wall.
075:12:11 Mission Control: Roger. We understand, Jim.
075:12:18 McDivitt (Spider): Okay. There’s a picture of the drogue sticking down into the tunnel with the probe stuck in the end of it, and you can see the upper hatch of the LM is open. It’s probably not...
075:12:28 Mission Control: Now hold the camera right there, Jim. That’s really clear. It’s a beautiful picture.
246 b
On the fifth day came “the key event of the entire mission: the separation and rendezvous of the Lunar Module and the Command Module”.
McDivitt and Schweickart again aboard the LM separated from Scott’s CSM.
Apollo 9 was the first manned test flight of the Lunar Module; and the first time astronauts were flying in a spacecraft not designed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere – redocking with Gumdrop was essential.
“Attempting to describe the cool courage of McDivitt and Schweickart when they went off for the first time over the horizon in the unlandable LM, some observers declared it the bravest act since man first ate a raw oyster” (NASA SP-350, p. 194).
NASA released a variant of this photograph (AS9- 21-3181).
From the mission transcript after separation from the CSM Gumdrop:
092:39:36 Scott (Gumdrop): Okay. You’re free. [...]
092:40:37 Schweickart (Spider): I’m stationkeeping on you now, so no sweat.
092:40:40 Scott (Gumdrop): Okay.
092:41:10 Scott (Gumdrop):Spider, I’m going to stay in plane and just follow you with the pitch.
246 c
Apollo 9 was the only mission when the beauty of the Earth served as a backdrop for both the Lunar Module and the Command Module in flight.
Photographed in lunar landing configuration from the CM Gumdrop, Spider is piloted by Schweickart and McDivitt.
The Lunar Module, or the “ugly bug” as it was often called, was built of wafer-thin metal.
“A vehicle intended solely for use in space, it was so frail that its flanks would crumple if subjected to flight in Earth’s lower atmosphere” (Mason, p. 152).
The LM ladder, forward hatch and the “golden slippers” affixed to the front porch of the LM are clearly visible.
NASA released a variant of this photograph (AS9- 21-3181).
From the mission transcript after separation from the CSM Gumdrop:
092:44:37 McDivitt (Spider): Okay. I’m going to do the pitcharound maneuver, and l’m going to pitch 90 degrees only. [...]
092:46:01 Scott (Gumdrop): That’s a nice looking machine.
092:46:03 McDivitt (Spider): So is yours.
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