Standing by. Astronaut James McDivitt readies for training during preparation for Apollo 9. Mr. McDivitt first flew on Gemini 4 with Ed White on a historic space flight in which White became the first American to space walk. Apollo 9 was a 10-day flight which McDivitt commanded and the first to employ the full Apollo spacecraft (the Lunar Module & Command & Service Modules). A9 was also the 2nd crewed flight with the Saturn V rocket. McDivitt was part of the Group 2 of astronauts selected in 1962.
The prime crew of the Apollo 9 space mission are seen inside an Apollo command module boilerplate during water egress training activity in the Gulf of Mexico. From foreground, are astronauts Jim McDivitt, commander; Dave Scott, command module pilot; and Rusty Schweickart, lunar module pilot.
(11 Dec. 1968) — Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot of the Apollo 9 space mission, is seen inside Chamber “A,” Space Environment Simulation Laboratory, Building 32, participating in dry run activity in preparation for extravehicular activity which is scheduled in Chamber “A.” The purpose of the scheduled training is to familiarize the crewmen with the operation of EVA equipment in a simulated space environment. In addition, metabolic and workload profiles will be simulated on each crewman. Astronauts Schweickart and Alan L. Bean, backup lunar module pilot, are scheduled to receive thermal-vacuum training simulating Earth-orbital EVA.
