Launch of Apollo 9

Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight to test the Apollo Lunar Module, the craft that would land astronauts on the Moon, and it took place entirely in Earth orbit. The crew were James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart, launched on a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center. During ten days in orbit they docked and undocked the Command and Service Module with the lunar module, tested the lander's engines, and Schweickart carried out a spacewalk to try out the portable life support backpack. McDivitt and Schweickart flew the lunar module, call sign Spider, to about 185 kilometers away from the command module Gumdrop, then rendezvoused and docked again. The success cleared the way for Apollo 10 and the first landing in Apollo 11.

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