Page 22 - The Appollo Story

~----------1 The Apollo Story1-----------.....

Apollo 9 (AS-504) Spider and Gumdrop
By early 1968 there was a feeling of optimism in NASA; a sense that Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline
was achievable. This was in no small part due to the smooth flights of Apollo 7 and 8; if the next two
missions adhered to expectations, it was possible that Apollo 11 might make the first landing, or failing
that, Apollo 12. Either way, time was short and both Apollo 9 and 10 were going to be enormously de-
manding missions. The Apollo 9 mission was the first manned flight of all Apollo lunar hardware in
Eai1h orbit and first manned flight of the lunar module. Lunar module pilot Russell L. Schweickart per-
formed a 37-minute EVA. Human reactions to space and weightlessness were tested in 152 orbits.

RRI ROCKETPOST F L IGHT XXIV
Com memoro ti ng the
APOL LO 9 Flight to Test the Lu nar Mod ule in Earth Orb it
The crew of the Apollo 9 mi ssion. Tho e men tuh•d
th e lunar modul e in space ond compl eted 151 orbit s
of the Ea rth from lout1ch on Mardi J, 1969 to
spl ashdown on Morch 13, 1969. Leh to riglit gre
A1tronoull Russ ell L. Schwe icke rt, lunar module
pi lot; Jomu A. McOivitt, commander; and David R.
Scott, commond modu le pi lot.

APOLLO 8 EARTH VIEW •.. This view of th•
ri1in'll eortl. greeted the Apo llo 8 oshonouts 01
tf. e~ c om elr - be hindth e,., o o!\o hcr th el uno r o • b i t
inurtlo• bum'' !lie Aerojd-Gencro l A.l- 10- 137
Service P ropu l1lon Sy1!1t"' En9i1te. Earth is about
five degree10Love the hori1011i nthi 1 photogroph.
The vn11-ed 1urfoce feat ures fn the foreground
are near the KS lt'fn limb of the "'""" os 'tiewed
from eortl.. n •• '"'"" hori son ;, oppro11im111e lr
780 kUometers fro111 the spoce croh. On th ., eorth,
240,000 1totute .,;In owoy, the sunset tu minotor
bisec ts Afri n .
N_ 345
A _...,....--COMMAHD
~ MO DU LE
SERVICE
MODULE

The circular patch shows a drawing of a Saturn V
rocket with the letters USA on it. To its right, an
Apollo CSM is shown next to an LM, with the
SPACECRAFT/ LEM
ADAPTER GSM's nose pointed at the "front door" of the LM
rather than at its top docking port. The CSM is
trailing rocket fire in a circle. The crew's names
are along the top edge of the circle, with
APOLLO IX at the bottom. The "D" in McDivitt's
name is filled with red to mark that this was the
"D mission ' in the alphabetic sequence of Apollo
1
missions. The patch was designed by Allen Ste-
vens of Rockwell International.

Flown ot Pyro•id L.olr:•. now porl of tloio Pciuto
lndi11 n Renrvoti on W111hoo County, Hevod11
1250 souvo11i< shcoh printed. 250 sl>H ll u ed
on !light u1volope• ond cords . 3 Mc rd1 1969.
MANAGER
RRI ASTROPHILATELIC OPERATIONS:
If. IP.nil\ \II l(;(.E\lll m; A U.S Rocket Mail souvenir sheet of 4 imperforate
SEAL DESIGN BY;
l. I . IU\Sll .\l\ . Jll.
stamps. Single stamps of this design were used for
ROCKET RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC .
SPON SOR OF THE N A T I ONAL ROCK ET S A FETY ~EG I STRY PR OGRA M rocket mail on March 3 1969 by the Rocket Re-
32 6 2. C A STERA AVE N UE .. GLENDA LE . CA Ll f"ORN l ,lt. • 12oa
search Institute.