posted 03-24-2019 06:59 AM               

Space Cover #507: Apollo 9 at 50

Here's a belated look back at Apollo 9, the earth-orbital shakedown flight of LM-3, the first crewed flight of the Apollo lunar module that flew just over 50 years ago.

Above is my favorite Apollo 9 cover, not because it is some rarity (which it is not), but because of a personal connection. It is a pretty-common Spacecraft Cachet, Vukotich #230a, postmarked at Patrick AFB on March 3, 1969, for the launch of Apollo 9. And it has been autographed by someone that most of you won't recognize – one D. M. Corcoran.

Donald M. Corcoran was NASA's project engineer for LM-3 "Spider" on Apollo 9. He put in many, many long hours getting LM-3 ready to fly, and it flew almost perfectly for the crew. I had the privilege to work with Don from 1989-1992, after his retirement from NASA. Always a quiet, humble guy, he was almost embarrassed when I asked him to autograph this cover. While working late one night in 1991, he opened-up about his early NASA career, as an engineer for the Mercury-Redstone flights (including the two manned flights). He had some great pictures of a much younger Don in the blockhouse.

On another late night in 1992, Don and I ordered some pizza for dinner. It did not sit well with him at all. The next day he went into the hospital. The doctors did exploratory surgery, then sewed him right back up – his cancer was too advanced to remove. Don died several days later.

So, my favorite Apollo 9 cover salutes one of the unsung heroes of the mission – Donald M. Corcoran. Do you have some favorite Apollo 9 covers? If so, let's post them here! And as always, I'll be glad to host your cover images if you can't – just email them to me.

posted 03-24-2019 03:35 PM               

Here are several mission firsts of Apollo 9 for the spaceflight record books; It was the first Saturn V launch with a full Apollo stack and crew on board placed in low Earth orbit, first crewed spaceflight of the two-man piloted Apollo lunar module, first docking in space of two vehicles with an internal crew transfer between them and the first EVA (spacewalk) of Apollo astronauts while in Earth orbit during the lunar landing program.

Apollo 9 astronauts Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott, and Rusty Schweickart nicknamed their lunar module craft "The Spider," which looked liked an ugly duckling. The odd, funny-looking, and frail space vehicle had a spacecraft skin so thin that a dropped screwdriver on it almost anywhere during its ground construction and testing could puncture and damage the lunar landing ship.

The well-pleased crew of Apollo 9 came back home to Earth with a flight report or news that beauty is not too important, or at least, that was the case with their moon ship. The Spider/LM-3 did indeed fly, dock, undock, maneuver by itself in space, and performed every required function it had to do before astronauts would take another moon lander to the lunar surface for the first time and fly back to an awaiting lunar orbiting command module.

Featured here are some highlights from my own Apollo 9 memorabilia collections. The signatures on the top-right Ronson-Orbit Cape-launch day postal cover contain the autographs of three prominent NASA Apollo 9 chief spacecraft pioneer-veterans of KSC; Command Service Module Test Conductor "Skip" Chauvin, Apollo 9's LM Test Conductor Herman Widick and Chief Test Supervisor James Harrington, III.

Apollo 9 flight crew astronauts are represented by their autographs on several different mission covers and flight-related color postcard selections. All of the crew-signed Apollo 9 postal covers are some of the most sought-out and highly-desirable mission postal covers of that vintage era.

Included in the assortment are a couple of flown U.S. flags and a crew patch, all flight crew given, along with a couple of different crew-signed photographs. I've also included a few highlight Apollo 9 issued badges and a hard-to-find Apollo 9 Rockwell Space Division small mission decal, and a vintage Kellogg Company label.

Please share some of your own Apollo 9 pieces with us on this thread so that we can all help celebrate and commemorate the incredible flight of Apollo 9 with fellow space enthusiasts and collectors.