Apollo 9 : three to make ready.

[Music] Christmas 1968 when man first cut the silver cord of Earth's gravity to orbit the [Music] Moon Saturn 5 had provided the power to take him there the command and service modules had sustained him but man cannot begin his Mastery of the Moon until he can land on its inhospitable surface and take off again to do this he needs the third basic piece of Hardware the lunar module the lunar module is a New Concept designed exclusively for use in the vacuum of space a two-man taxi used as a shuttle between the lunar Sur surface and the orbiting Command Module but before men can use the lunar module as an operational lunar spacecraft it must be tested in space first in Earth orbit this was the primary purpose of Apollo 9 the third man Apollo Mission Jim mcdot Dave Scott Rusty schwier three men to qualify this new machine to make ready for the [Music] moon this was the most complex system ever sent into space first the Saturn 5 7 1/2 million pounds of thrust from its first stage alone over 3 million working parts then the soon module well over 1 million parts and the command and service modules over 2 million [Music] parts5 seconds March 3rd 1969 the countdown for the launch of Apollo 9 was underway each piece checked out before launch computer monitors 20 seconds guidance release 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 we have ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 1 zero all engines running commit liftoff we have liftoff at 11:00 a.m. eastern Stander time [Music] you are go all the way everything looks good sure and Apollo 9 at 5 minutes everybody's happy as a clam here looking good so are we very good once in orbit the crew turned the Command Module around Preparatory to the docking with the lunar module which was still attached to the s4b the third stage of their launch vehicle and this is Houston All Roger it's out there and we're turned around and proceeding with the station keeping it talking oh tremendous uh thank [Applause] [Music] you go Apollo 9 we're about 25 ft now on the closing FL uh [Music] copy all right hard understand hard do good go the next maneuver to activate the Springs which would eject the lunar module Command Module configuration from the s4b follow N9 you are go for ejection go for Houston Apollo 9 we've had a successful ejection and uh we C separating very slowly for the s4b we've got them in sight out all the windows oh sounds beautiful next the s4b engine would be ignited to send it away from Apollo 9 away from possible interference with their complex Mission Apollo 9 Houston looks like right pipe ignition on the s4b on the way just like a bright star disappearing in the distance for the rest of the first and second days Apollo 9 would fly in this configuration four Burns of the service propulsion system would optimize the orbit for the coming Maneuvers these Burns could be roughly correlated to the midcourse corrections of a lunar Mission then on the third day the crew cleared the tunnel connecting the command and lunar modules of the probe and drogue docking mechanism this would open the tunnel for the transfer of mcdot and schwier from The Command Module to the lunar module Houston just foro taring pretty muching follow N9 Houston your line clear little piece of for you the Dr looks as good as with two spacecraft now Ann Operation new code names were introduced The cone-shaped Command Module known as Gumdrop the insect likee lunar module called spider throughout the day MCD and schwier would test every system of the lunar module the major event of the day would be a burn of the lunar module descent engine this engine which will eventually be used for the actual lunar Landing would be under the manual control of spacecraft Commander mcdot for a large portion of the burn okay now mcdot put on a virtuoso performance playing the throttle of the lunar module each variation of thrust a note in a technological [Music] Symphony 40% go down to 10% coming back up to 40% back down to 25% back up again okay coming up to 40% S profile is complete just let it TI there the engine so necessary for the lunar Landing had performed flawlessly another burn of the service module engine would complete the day but first mcdot had a message okay I'm got to get something i' had so far today is a little bag of fruit salad I'm about to starve to death Roger it had been a busy time for the crew of Apollo 9 but it was only only the beginning the next day mcdot and schwier returned to the lunar module this time schwier opened the front hatch and stepped onto the front porch the first all up test in space of the portable life support system or plss and the suit to be worn on the moon okay spider G drop the hatch is open no sweat just swing swing hey I can seey foot can you see me wiggling my toes Scher was attached to the lunar module only by a safety tether with his own life support and communication systems he was virtually an independent oneman spacecraft his call sign as the third link in Communications Red Rover [Applause] you alone in the Command Module hatch opened Dave Scott also had work to do okay Dave come on out okay I'm going to let the camera run here taking pictures of everybody taking pictures yeah you want to retrieve the sample garage that's a good idea now both Scott and schwier were retrieving experimental thermal samples attached to the exteriors of the lunar and command modules because of scher's upset stomach the previous day his extra vehicular transfer from the lunar module to the Command Module to be used if the transfer tunnel were blocked was curtailed but the remaining Eva which lasted for 30 37 minutes demonstrated not only that an extra vehicular transfer was possible but gave a good workout to the space suit and life support system that will later be worn when exploring the surface of the Moon it had been another long hard day the first and only Eva schedule for Apollo until the exploration of the lunar surface but the next day was the biggest test of the mall with MCD and schwier in the lunar module Scott alone in the command module the two vehicles undocked looking more an abstraction than a machine the lunar module danced an inverted pouette before its lone partner in space [Music] firing its descent engine the lunar module would pull away from the Command Module to a distance of about 100 Mil [Music] [Music] now with the support of Mission Control mcdot and schwier would Loc at Scott alone in the Command Module and perform the critical rendevu Maneuvers each burn representing a firing that would one day take men from the surface of the Moon to the spacecraft which would take them home again 2 [Applause] seconds we have a negation burn looks good good bur Dave oh very good thank you the lunar module had left its four-legged descent stage in orbit now only the ascent stage and crew would return each burn a step in a computerized choreography which would lead to the [Music] [Applause] rendevu I see [Music] you okay we're 5 ft per second about 610 ft okay put you're upside down again hey I just thinking one of us is right side [Applause] [Music] up okay I have it about 370 ft okay looks closer than that yeah doesn't it though how does that sports car handle Jim pretty nice in order to mcdot needed to use a sighting device on the lunar module docking window however the Brilliance of the sunlight made using the site difficult alone in the Command Module Scott helped talk MCD divid in well you're coming fine just keep coming easy like that got to go uh forward to your right a little bit relative to your body well translation but I can't thr my attitude is Dave if I don't see it well there it is there now you're coming in keep it coming almost there about there I have Capt okay why don't you take a break for a while man when I take a break I'm going to bed for 3 days it had been a full 5 days but the lunar module had checked out Beyond expectations in all aspects it seemed ready for the moon now it was time to jettison the ascent stage of the lunar module to free the Command Module for the remainder of the mission when a safe clearance had been established the final test the ascent engine of the lunar module was ignited to burn until its propellant ran out the crew of Apollo 9 watched as their lunar module now cruess arked away from them out I hope I didn't forget anything on boarded he's sure A Long Way wa for the last 5 days the flight of Apollo 9 settled into a routine a routine of picture taking and observations with an occasional burn to refine the orbit but this routine was a look into the future a future when man orbiting space stations operating in concert with unmanned scientific satellites could examine the Earth from this vantage point when cameras such as those on Apollo 9 will take multiple Spectrum photographs from visible light through the infrared locating hither to untapped geological and biological resources and perhaps even more important when man can look at his world with A New Perspective quantitatively and qualitatively observe the results of his actions on the face of his world for with the Power Man controls he can change the nature of his Planet he can no longer think of unrelated occurrences he must realize that he exists within the structure of Earth's planetary ecological system he can observe with this new technology the results of his interaction with his [Music] environment water pollution on the coast of the United States Air Pollution of a major city the results of damning a river of irrigating a [Music] desert but Apollo 9 was not an orbiting laboratory it was the third Mann mission of Apollo and it was time to come down the prime recovery area had been shifted several hundred miles because of weather conditions in the original recovery zone with the appropriate changes made to its flight path Apollo 9 made its final descent into the atmosphere the crew took these pictures of the re-entry and opening of the [Music] parachutes [Music] the 10-day mission of Apollo 9 had met all its major goals the ability to work and make a contingency transfer in the space suit and the plss had been proven the capability of the lunar module to fulfill its vital role in the exploration of the Moon had been established the flight of Apollo 9 showed that we are indeed ready ready for the next step in meeting what may be the most significant challenge of our time the conquest of the Moon [Music] oh