Echoes-From-Apollo

Flown 'Apollo IX LM-3 Final Flight Crew G&N Dictionary' Dated February 24, 1969

 

Here's my 'flown', complete, vintage 'Apollo IX LM-3 Final Flight Crew G&N Dictionary', Part Number 'SKB32100016-301', Serial Number '1001', dated 'February 24, 1969'. This was Apollo 9 Commander Jim McDivitt's personal copy! 

In March of sixty-nine, he 'used' this item while hurtling through space inside Apollo 9's Lunar Module (LM), nickname 'Spider', as he and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart put 'Spider'  through it's 'paces' in  'low earth orbit'! 

 It was the first time a 'Spider', or a LM for that matter, had ever 'flown' in space!
That's 'first ever' folks! 

Apollo 9 was the third Apollo mission and the first where the Command/Service Module (CSM) was 'paired' with a LM.
During it's ten day mission, the astronauts performed extensive testing of 'Spider's'
ascent/descent engines and navigation system/s!
To include performing critical docking/undocking maneuvers with the CSM!   

After undocking from the CSM, and achieving separation, Mission Control heard McDivitt say, 'Vámonos', as Schweickart 
 fired up 'Spider's' 'descent stage' engine and they 'Vámonosed' the hell outta there!
In the fully configured LM! Like a couple a bats outta hell! Leaving Scott behind in the CSM!

 

'Spider' Takes Flight!

Lunar Landing Configuration! 

After rigorously testing 'Spider's' systems, 
 they jettisoned the lower part of the LM, also known as the 'descent stage', engine and all!
Which was the stage that would eventually allow astronauts to land on the moon! 
Leaving them in the upper part of the LM, also known as the 'ascent stage'! 
Which is the part that would use the defunct 'descent stage' as a type of 'launching pad' and  
blast the astronauts off the surface of the moon,   
toward an eventual rendezvous with an orbiting CSM!
Now, ya need to understand, they were approximately a
hundred eleven miles away from Scott and the safety of the CSM!
And, since they'd just jettisoned the 'descent stage', and it's engine, 
 the 'ascent stage' engine was all they had left! Literally! 
Problem was.... well.... it'd never before been fired up in space! 
It was what you'd call, 'untested"! But the actual real life 'rocket scientists' who'd invented the damn thing, 
assured the astronauts that it'd work! Space or no space! At least in theory anyway! 
But.... in the unlikely event that it didn't.... well.... there was always Apollo 10, am I right?! 
So, keeping fingers crossed, McDivitt hit the switch or toggle or whatever
the hell you want to call it, and...  it did work! Just as advertised! Or should I say theorized! 

Mcdivitt and Schweickart breathed a sigh of relief and, using the 'LEM Optical Tracker System',

were able to rendezvous with the CSM, where they performed one last docking maneuver! 
One last critical docking maneuver! Which allowed them to climb back in the CSM! Safe and sound! 
And jettison what was left of the LM! Which I've been told, may still be orbiting the earth to this very day!
Not! It probably burned up in the atmosphere at some point! But wouldn't that be neat if it was?! 

 

'Spider' Returns!  
Sans the Descent Stage!

An argument could be made that this was the most critical docking maneuver of the mission! 
At least for them anyway! 

 And the rest, as they say, is history! 

All of these were firsts for 'merica's manned space program and essential steps towards fulfilling
President Kennedy's goal of   'landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth'
by the end of that decade!

It's always been my contention that, without a successful Apollo 9,
there's no way in hell Apollo 11 would've landed on the moon in July of nineteen sixty-nine! 

And ya kin take that ta the bank, Frank! 

  One more thing, 'Spider' was the first manned spacecraft not  equipped to reenter
the Earth's atmosphere!
Y'all chew on that fer a minute! Or two! 

AND....
THIS 'G&N DICTIONARY' WAS 'WITNESS' TO IT ALL!!!

'APOLLO IX LM-3 FINAL FLIGHT CREW G&N DICTIONARY'
FRONT COVERS

 

 

 

 

On 3/24/2012 my wife and I had a 'meet and greet' with  McDivitt down in 'The ol' Pueblo',  Tucson Arizona!  During this 'meeting', McDivitt was shown this 'Apollo 9 LM G&N Dictionary' and personally confirmed that this item 'flew' with him on Apollo 9! While looking through the 'Dictionary', McDivitt showed us page 'PGNS 1/Star List', and advised that as a tribute to Apollo 1 Astronauts Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White II, all of whom perished in a capsule fire on the launch pad in January 1967, the Apollo 9 crew named three stars listed on this page after them!  McDivitt pointed out that Star Number 3, listed as 'Navi' in the Dictionary, was actually Grissom's middle name spelled backwards! And to those of you scoring on the lower end of the 'Bell Curve', that would be 'Ivan'! . He advised that Star Number 17, listed as 'Regor' in the Dictionary, was actually 'Roger' spelled backwards! In honor of Roger Chaffee. And last but not least, he advised that Star Number 20, listed as 'Dnoces' in the Dictionary, was actually 'Second' spelled backward! In honor of Edward H. White II (the Second).

MYSELF AND MCDIVITT! 

I'm holding the 'DICTIONARY'! 
McDivitt's holding my other Apollo 9 'flown' item, 
a 'Docking and Post Docking Leading to LM Jettison' cue card/checklist! 
Which came from his personal collection!
 

 

PGNS-1
STAR LIST
 

  OTHER INTERESTING PAGES WITH
WHAT APPEAR TO BE HANDWRITTEN NOTATIONS

PGNS-33

 

PGNS-34

 
PGNS-41

PGNS-43

 

Ever since obtaining this item back in 2011, I'd been searching for either an original, or copy, of the Apollo 9 'Stowage List' documenting that this item was listed as part of  the Apollo 9 Mission. Initially I reached out to other collectors. In 2013 I received an e-mail response from a rather well known collector who had a vintage Apollo 9 'Stowage List', in which he advised that my item was indeed on the 'List'! Which I did appreciate!   However, for some reason, he was reluctant to send me a complete copy of the actual 'Stowage List' itself. So.... I continued my search.

In 2018 I came across the following entry in the 'National Archives' website: 'Composite Apollo Stowage Lists 1967-1975 National Archives Identifier: 656392 Local Identifier: NRF-255-214 Record Group 255 (Apollo 9) Contacts National Archives at Fort Worth (RM-FW)'. Soooo, for a small fee, I was able to obtain a complete copy of the 'Stowage List'  from them! Oh happy days! I love it when a plan comes together! 

 

NATIONAL ARCHIVES
APOLLO 9 'STOWAGE LIST'
COVER

NATIONAL ARCHIVES
APOLLO 9 'STOWAGE LIST'
PAGE 35
LAST ENTRY SHOWING THE 'LM G&N DICTIONARY'

 

  
APOLLO 9 LAUNCH

 

 
    APOLLO 9 SPLASHDOWN

 

Apollo 9 Vintage Manual 'Recovery Requirements Apollo 9' Dated January 22, 1969

 

Here is my vintage 'Recovery Requirements Apollo 9' Manual
Dated January 22, 1969.

Apollo 9, was the third manned mission in the United States Apollo Space Program and the first flight of both the Command Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). Its' three-person crew, consisting of Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot Dave Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart, tested several aspects critical to landing on the Moon, including the LM engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems, and docking maneuvers. The mission was the second manned launch of a Saturn V Rocket.

After launching on March 3, 1969, the crewmen spent ten days in low Earth orbit. They performed the first manned flight of a LM, the first docking and extraction of a LM, two spacewalks, and the second docking of two manned spacecraft. The mission proved the LM worthy of manned spaceflight.

Title speaks for itself as far as subject matter. No real historical significance other than it is vintage. Just one of hundreds given out at the time as can be seen in the below 'Distribution List', except that this one survived in relatively good shape. Appears complete. I included some interesting pages from this item as seen below.

 

COVER

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

MISSION DESCRIPTION

 

 

 

 

CSM/IVB ORBITAL OPERATIONS DIAGRAM

 

 

TRANSPOSITION, DOCKING
AND CSM/LM EJECTION DIAGRAM

 

 

DOCKED SPS BURNS DIAGRAM 

 

 

DOCKED DPS BURN DIAGRAM

 

 

EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY DIAGRAM

Because of Schweickarts' bout with space motion type sickness, this longer EVA was not attempted. However, Schweickart did complete a shorter EVA from the LM instead of the EVA described below. NASA wanted to keep the EVA period to a minimum because of the motion type sickness Schweickart experienced during the early part of the mission. There was a fear that if he threw up in his helmet while performing the EVA, he might choke on his vomit, so the EVA was shortened considerably.

 

 

LM ACTIVE RENDEZVOUS DIAGRAM

 

 

APS BURN TO DEPLETION DIAGRAM

 

 

CSM SPS BURNS DIAGRAM

 

 

TABLE 4-1.
PREDICTED IMPACT INFORMATION
FOR NONRECOVERABLE FLIGHT COMPONENTS

 

 

TABLE 4-2.
RECOMMENDED LAUNCH SITE
AREA RECOVERY FORCE SUPPORT

 

TABLE 4-3.
LANDING AREAS, ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL TIMES,
AND RECOMMENDED FORCE DEPLOYMENT 

 

 

TABLE 4-5.
LOGISTIC AIRCRAFT SUPPORT 

 

 

FIGURE 4-1
LAUNCH SITE AREA AND
RECOMMENDED FORCE DEPLOYMENT

 

 

FIGURE 4-2
LAUNCH ABORT AREA AND
RECOMMENDED FORCE DEPLOYMENT 

 

 

FIGURE 4-3
RECOMMENDED PRIMARY RECOVERY
FORCE DEPLOYMENT 

 

 

FIGURE 4-4
RECOVERY ZONES, CONTINGENCY AREA AND
RECOMMENDED AIRCRAFT STAGING BASES 

 

 

FIGURE 4-5
RECOMMENDED
SECONDARY RECOVERY FORCE DEPLOYMENT 

 

 

DISTRIBUTION LIST
PAGES B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4, B-5, B-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apollo 9 Flown Checklist 'Docking and Post Docking Leading to LM Jettison'

 

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.

 

  

Below are the Cover Page and Page 434 from the
'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.

   

 

 

The below is page 302/1 from the  'Apollo 9 PAO Mission Commentary Transcript'. It references preparation of the LM for the 'long burn of the ascent propulsion system' (APS) and its' 'burn to depletion'. The end of the above flown cue card references the LMs' 'APS BURN TO DEPLETION'. The Ascent Propulsion System in the LM was used to launch the LM Ascent Stage from the Lunar surface (using the Descent Stage as a launch pad) and carry it back into orbit for a rendezvous with the CSM.

  

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.

 

 

Apollo 9 Astronaut Conversations

 

Think about being cooped up with two other people for ten days in a space no bigger than a small walk in closet. Then think about all the personal hygiene you normally do each day/night and multiply that by three. You better have a sense of humor (or develop one fast), and the patience of Job, because you will need both to last for ten days in that cramped environment without alienating those other two people. While reviewing Apollo 9 transcripts for the 'Apollo 9 Flown Checklist for Docking and Post Docking Leading to LM Jettison' in a previous post, I came across some conversations between these heroes which demonstrated their sense of humor, and which provided a glimpse into how they dealt with some basic biological functions. They took place on day one and day six of the mission.