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On the fourth day of the flight of Apollo 9, Schweickart felt better than expected as he worked his way into the lander to get it ready for the EVA. By the time he had put on the backpack, McDivitt was ready to let him do more – to stand on the lunar lander porch at least.
Lunar Module to Command Module transfer procedure
Schweickart on the porch of the Lunar Module
Scott standing in the open hatch of the Command Module
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McDivitt later said that the engine had come on abruptly, but with the tremendous mass, acceleration was very slow – it took the whole 5 seconds to add 11 meters per second to the speed.
Example of the CM’s docking probe being removed from the inside to allow access to the LM through the tunnel
Probe and drogue operations
Schweickart and McDivitt inside the LM
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The successful Apollo 7 flight cleared the way for a US moon landing in 1969. Still a lot of flight and ground testing remained and there would probably be surprises. The greatest concern was Nasa had to complete three virtually flawless missions and achieve every major test objective before a lunar landing could be attempted. The odds seemed to be stack against NASA.
Apollo 8 Crew
Jim Lovell (Shaky)
The Lovell family watch launch of Apollo 8
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Perhaps the most significant point about the lunar-orbit flight proposed for Apollo 8 was that the command and service modules would fly the same route to the moon as would be used for the actual lunar landing.
General Samuel C. Phillips. Director of Apollo Manned Lunar Landing program
Dr. Wernher von Braun. The Rocket Man.
George Mueller Assoc. Admin. for NASA Office of Manned Space Flight
