Oct 05

Space Rocket History #179 – Apollo 9 – The Launch

Posted on October 5, 2016 by spac9750

For the 19th flight of American astronauts into space, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, representing the new administration of Richard Nixon, sat in the firing control room viewing area on March 3rd, 1969. He and other guests listened to the countdown of the Saturn-Apollo structure several kilometers away at the edge of the Florida beach.

Apollo 9 crew: McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart

Wernher von Braun waiting for launch with Vice President Spiro Agnew

Lift off of Apollo 9

Sep 28

Space Rocket History #178 – Apollo 9 – The Crew – McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart

Posted on September 28, 2016 by spac9750

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James Alton “Jim” McDivitt was born on June 10, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois. He is of Irish descent. Like many other astronauts, he was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Tenderfoot Scout. He graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1947.

James McDivitt

David Scott

Russell Schweickart

Sep 21

An Encore Presentation of Space Rocket History #1 – Ancient Rocketry: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Posted on September 21, 2016 by spac9750

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From our small world we have gazed upon the cosmic ocean for thousands of years. Ancient astronomers observed points of light that appeared to move among the stars. They called these objects planets, meaning wanderers, and named them after Roman deities — Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn, and Jupiter. The stargazers also observed comets with sparkling tails, and meteors or shooting stars apparently falling from the sky.

Often, the early rocket pioneers are lost in the shadows of time. The space rockets of today are the result of more than 2,000 years of invention, experimentation, and discovery. The foundations for modern rocketry were laid, first by observation and inspiration and then by methodical research.

Sep 14

Space Rocket History #177 – Apollo 9 – Preparations

Posted on September 14, 2016 by spac9750

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The biggest concern before Apollo 9 was the docking maneuver. In early 1969, at NASA there was little confidence in the docking system. At a January program review, Phillips said that problems encountered during probe and drogue testing worried him…