Apollo 9 was the third manned Apollo mission and the first space test of one of the most critical pieces of Apollo hardware: The Lunar Module (LM). It was up to the crew of Apollo 9 to test the ungainly-looking LM, the third component of the Apollo space vehicle system. The mission would require undocking and then re-docking the LM with the Command Module (CM), a procedure necessary for the eventual lunar landing mission.

Because the Lunar Module and Command Module would separate during the mission, each having its own radio call sign, the Apollo 9 crew nicknamed the two spacecraft. With its gangly features, the LM was dubbed “Spider.” When the Command Module was delivered to NASA by its manufacturer North American Rockwell of Downy, California, wrapped in a blue covering that gave it a distinct candy-like appearance. It was fittingly, dubbed the “Gumdrop.”

The Apollo 9 crew consisted of James McDivitt, Commander; David Scott, CM pilot; and Russell Schweickart, LM pilot. Launching on March 3, 1969, the Apollo 9 mission was one of the most intensive space flights to date. On March 6, Schweickart and Scott performed a spacewalk. Schweickart teste the new Apollo spacesuit – the first to have its own life support system rather than being dependent on an umbilical connection to the spacecraft. It was this spacesuit design that astronauts later would wear on the moon. The next day, “Spider” (with McDivitt and Schweickart aboard) undocked from the Command Module and maneuvered over 100 miles away, testing both the descent stage and ascent stage engines, before a successful rendezvous and re-docking after 6 hours and 22 minutes.

The Apollo 9 mission proved that the Apollo spacecraft and its systems, including the launch vehicle, Lunar Module, portable life support system backpack, and the flight control techniques designed for manned lunar landing flights would work. The success of Apollo 9 paved the way for the Apollo 10 crew to take their LM within nine miles of the moon’s surface in May, as a dress rehearsal for the eventual lunar landing of Apollo 11 in July. For NASA and the American space program, Apollo 9 truly was one step closer to the moon.

Apollo 9 is one of only two Apollo Command Modules flown in space on display west of the Rocky Mountains. The spacecraft was moved on May 18, 2004, from its former home at the Michigan Space and Science Center, where it had been on exhibit for over two decades then carefully transported to the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The exhibit, which is now on display in the Museum’s “SPACE: Our Greatest Adventure” special exhibition, originally opened to the public in the Rotunda on July 21, 2004 – the day after the 35th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing.