Here is my Apollo 9 flown cue card 'checklist for docking and post docking leading to Lunar Module jettison' notated by Apollo 9 Commander Jim McDivitt in his unique green style as 'Flown aboard Apollo 9'. During my meeting with him in Tucson AZ, McDivitt advised me that this 'checklist' was kept in the Command Service Module for use during the docking of 'Spider' (LM) with 'Gumdrop' (CSM), and subsequently for the jettison of 'Spider' from 'Gumdrop'. Apollo 9 was the first flight of the LM in a space environment.
Here is a picture of McDivitt holding the 'checklist' during my
meeting with him in Tucson. He was very talkative, informative,
and gracious during the meeting which lasted about an hour.
Below are the corresponding pages from the
'Apollo 9 Flight Plan, Final'
which mirror the 'checklist'.
Below is a view of the Apollo 9 CSM from the Apollo 9 LM
during the docking maneuver.
Below is Table 3-I from the 'Apollo 9 PAO Mission Commentary Transcript'. This table provides the sequence of events for the LM undocking, testing, docking, and jettison phase of the Apollo 9 Mission.
'Apollo 9 Technical Air-To-Ground Voice Transcription'.
As can be seen on Page 434, Schweickart and McDivitt were
unable to get the rendezvous radar to 'unlock'. You can see in
the above flown 'checklist' that the RR (rendezvous radar) was
supposed to be off in preparation for the docking alignment.
Below is page 306/1 from the 'Apollo 9 PAO Mission Commentary Transcript'. It references CAPCOM giving the 'APS depletion PAD' and 'LM jettison attitude' to McDivitt and chweickart along with wanting to 'uplink... a state vector'. The above flown 'checklist' makes reference to the 'LM STATE VECTOR' and 'MNVR PAD' as per this transcript page.
Below is page 308/2 from the 'Apollo 9 PAO Mission Commentary Transcript'. It references 'Rusty' (Schweickart) staying in the LM and 'configuring it for this ascent propulsion system burn to depletion'. The above flown 'checklist' references the 'LMP', 'OPEN APS INTERCONNECT', 'TRANSFER TO CSM' and 'CLOSE LM HATCH'. By this time, McDivitt had already transferred from the LM to the CSM.
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