The Second Mission of David J. McDivitt: Spaceflight Tests of Apollo 9, a Pioneer Mission for Humans on the Moon
The second mission of McDivitt, Apollo 9, launched March 3, 1969 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He was joined by Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Russell Schweickart.
McDivitt grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich., and graduated from the University of Michigan. During the Korean War, he flew more than 140 combat missions in the Air Force.
The longest U.S. spaceflight had remained in Earth’s orbit was 4 days, and was performed in 1965, on the Gemini 4 mission.
McDivitt commanded Apollo 9 in 1969 which was a ten day mission that involved testing the lunar landing craft. It paved the way for NASA to successfully land humans on the moon four months later in July 1969.
“It’s very unusual to find people in life who are both light-hearted and really dedicated to their job. And this guy was one of those rare examples of both,” French said.
The First Flight of Apollo 7: A Complete Test Mission for the Apollo Spacecraft, and the First Test Flight of the Lunar Module, as Learned by a Larry B. Cunningham
He was promoted to brigadier general in 1972, after retiring from NASA and the Air Force. He logged more than 5,000 flying hours in his lifetime.
“In the following years, it was a skill that allowed Apollo explorers to walk on the Moon and American astronauts and their partners from around the world to build the International Space Station,” NASA wrote in the statement.
The first flight of the complete set of Apollo hardware was the first flight of the Lunar Module, according to NASA. They practiced maneuvers that they would perform on a lunar mission.
The former astronaut was born in Chicago and graduated high school in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He received a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan, after graduating first in his class, according to a NASA statement.
Cunningham piloted the lunar module in the first manned Apollo mission. Apollo 7’s 11-day trip around the Earth was a key stepping stone to NASA’s march to the moon.
“The real accomplishment, of course, was the first manned landing on the moon,” Cunningham told NPR in 2016. “But that was the fifth of what I’ve always described as five giant steps. The Apollo 7 mission was the first one. Complete test of the Apollo spacecraft.”
The launch came after a difficult time for NASA. Just 21 months before, a fire on the launchpad killed three astronauts during a test of Apollo 1. In the interim, NASA changed many procedures and the command module underwent a series of safety improvements.
Cunningham claimed that the U.S. wouldn’t have landing on the moon before 1960 if Apollo 7 hadn’t gone well. The longest and most successful test flight of a new flying machine exists, yet the public does not know it.
It was hard to think that we could get through all those things. Cunningham was in an 11-day mission without being told that he needed to come home.
The astronauts did not fly in space for the last time after the mission was deemed a success. There was tension between Apollo 7’s commander, Wally Schirra, and mission control. As the flight dragged on, Schirra caught a cold and so did astronaut Donn Eisele and the crew’s squabbles worsened with ground controllers. Cunningham said that the job was a challenge and that the task was done well.
Cunningham left NASA in 1971 after serving as a manager for Skylab, the U.S. space station. He was in Harvard Business School and retired from the Marine Corps Reserve. He hosted a show on the radio.
Cunningham was a physicist and later became known for his skeptical views of climate change, disagreeing with overwhelming scientific belief that humans are to blame for increasing global temperatures. He said there is a war going on between those who think human activities cause global warming and those who don’t.