Apollo 9 Mission Patch
The Apollo 9 space vehicle was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11 a.m. EST on March 3, 1969. The Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight of the Lunar Module and was conducted to qualify the module for lunar operations. Approximately 70 hours into the 10-day mission in Earth orbit, the Lunar Module, Spider, separated, rendezvoused and docked with the Command Module. to visit the NASA Apollo 9 History site. As a result of unfavorable weather in the planned landing area, Apollo 9 completed an additional orbit before returning to Earth. Crew: James McDivitt, David Scott, Russell Schweickart 4 inch patch