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<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<title>Chariots For Apollo, ch12-4</title>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<p>
<h2>The Mission and the Men</h2>
<p>
When James McDivitt, David Scott, and Russell Schweickart had received
their Apollo flight assignment in late 1968, they were faced with an
even more complicated mission than the one they contemplated in early
1969. Inspired by the <cite>Gemini VII</cite> and <cite>VI</cite>
rendezvous mission in October 1965, when one spacecraft was launched to
catch up with another that had been sent into space a dozen days
earlier, some NASA officials wanted to use this concept to check out
lunar module and command module docking operations in earth orbit. Most
Apollo mission planners wanted to avoid the extra tasks required for
launching each vehicle on separate Saturn IB boosters, and by 1969 the
big Saturn V rocket was all set to boost both spacecraft into earth
orbit in a single launch. Although McDivitt and his crew would not have
to search for the lunar module in the vastness of space for the
rendezvous, this was almost the only thing that made it an easier
mission.
<p align=center>
<img src = "images/c291a.jpg" width=402 height=538 ALT="Apollo 9 crew in LM simulator"><p>
<cite>McDivitt and Schweickart (left to right) practice in the lunar
module simulator for the Apollo 9 mission to evaluate the LM in
earth-orbit operations and the Apollo suit in the space
environment.</cite>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
From the perspective of early 1969, the manned shakedown cruise of the
lunar module, even in earth orbit, was a venturesome journey. The
thought of mission commander McDivitt and lunar module pilot
Schweickart's flying away from the command module in this machine, which
could not return to earth through the atmospheric shield, was a little
frightening. In an emergency, however, command module pilot Scott could
steer his ship to a rendezvous with a stricken lunar module. NASA
officials hoped this would not be necessary; they wanted a smoothly
operating lunar module that could simulate many of the steps in the
lunar orbit mission.<a href = "#source15"><b>15</b></a>
<p align=center>
<img src = "images/c291b.jpg" width=408 height=544 ALT="Schweickart with backpack"><p>
<cite>Although all three crewmen would be exposed to the space
environment, where their lives would depend on their suits, only
Schweickart would don the backpack (right photo) that provided
independent life-sustaining oxygen and controlled temperature. McDivitt
and Scott would draw supplies through umbilical hoses attaching their
suits to the spacecraft. Schweickart's backpack is the same model that
moon-strolling astronauts would later use.</cite>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
Flight planners had another key objective for Apollo 9: checking out
what might almost be called the third spacecraft in the program (a
combination of the extravehicular space suit and the portable life
support system - the PLSS, or backpack). As a matter of fact, this was
the only flight scheduled for the backpack before the lunar landing
mission, making it of prime importance in finding out how the equipment
worked in the space environment. The commander and the lunar module
pilot, wearing their extravehicular garments, would crawl through the
tunnel from the command module into the lunar module. Then Schweickart,
after donning the backpack and attaching a nylon-cord tether to his
suit, would move through the open front hatch and step out on the porch.
Finally, he would use handrails to climb over and crawl into the open
command module hatch. Schweickart's tasks also included collecting
experiment samples on the spacecraft exterior and standing in foot
restraints (called "golden slippers") on the lunar module
porch to take photographs and operate a television camera.<a href =
"#source16"><b>16</b></a><p>
This was a well-seasoned crew. McDivitt, a member of the second group of
astronauts, chosen by NASA in September 1962, had been commander of
<cite>Gemini IV,</cite> a trailblazer in its own right. It had included
what was then considered long-duration flight, a rendezvous experiment,
and a highly successful extravehicular exercise. Scott and Schweickart
were members of the trainee group picked in October 1963, and Scott had
been a crewman on <cite>Gemini VIII</cite> when it made the first
docking in space. Although Schweickart had not flown a mission, he had
participated heavily in the experiments program and in spacesuit
testing. For two years the three men had been working as a team. By the
time McDivitt's crew was finally ready for flight, it had spent 7 hours
in training for each of the 241 hours it would spend in space. At a news
conference, McDivitt quipped that he hoped all this training did not
imply that the crewmen were slow learners.<a href =
"#source17"><b>17</b></a><p>
Because there would be two craft in simultaneous flight, Apollo 9
revived a practice that had been discarded almost four years earlier -
call signs, or names, for spacecraft. Gordon Cooper had encountered
trouble selling the name <cite>Faith 7</cite> for his
<cite>Mercury-Atlas 9</cite> craft to NASA officials. If anything
happened, they dreaded the thought of the almost inevitable headline:
"The United States lost Faith today." During Gemini, these
same leaders had turned down Gus Grissom's selection of "Molly
Brown" for <cite>Gemini-Titan 3,</cite> which alluded to both the
unsinkable characteristics of an American heroine and the loss of his
<cite>Liberty Bell 7</cite> during Mercury. His second choice,
"Titanic," was equally unwelcome. After that, missions were
simply called by the program name and a number: <cite>Gemini IV, Apollo
7.</cite> But a single designation, such as "Apollo 9," was no
longer enough. Flight control would have to talk to McDivitt and
Schweickart in the lunar module, as well as Scott in the command module.
McDivitt's crew named the lander "Spider," for its long thin
legs and buglike body. When North American shipped the command module to
Florida, its candy-wrapped appearance and shape suggested the tag,
"Gumdrop."<a href = "#source18"><b>18</b></a>
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<a name = "source15"><b>15</b>.</a> Phillips to Actg. Admin., NASA,
"Apollo 9 Mission (AS-504)," [18 Feb. 1969], with enc.;
Phillips TWX to MSC, MSFC, and KSC, Attn.: Low, Lee B. James, and
Middleton, "D Mission Objectives," 18 Feb. 1969.<p>
<a name = "source16"><b>16</b>.</a> NASA, "Project: Apollo 9,"
press kit, news release 69-29, 14 Feb. 1969, p. 20; J. V. Rivers and S.
H. Gardner, "Apollo 9; Apollo AS504/104/LM-3: Final Flight
Plan," 3 Feb. 1969 pp. 1-7, 1-8.<p>
<a name = "source17"><b>17</b>.</a> Barton C. Hacker and James M.
Grimwood, <cite>On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project
Gemini,</cite> NASA SP-4203 (Washington, 1977), append. II; Russell L.
Schweickart interview, Houston, 1 May 1967; MSC, "Apollo 9 Prime
Crew Briefing," 25 Jan. 1969; Apollo 9 press kit, p. 83.<p>
<a name = "source18"><b>18</b>.</a> Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M.
Grimwood, and Charles C. Alexander, This New Ocean. A History of Project
Mercury, NASA SP-4201 (Washington, 1966), p. 492; Hacker and Grimwood,
<cite>On the Shoulders of Titans,</cite> pp. 403-04; Apollo 9 press kit,
pp. 10-11.
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