page_title: March 1969
section_title: March 3, 1969 (Monday)
hierarchical_section_title: March 1969 / March 3, 1969 (Monday)
caption_attribution_description: English: Apollo 9 Patch The insignia of the Apollo 9 space mission. The crew consist of astronauts James A. McDivitt, commander; David R. Scott, command module pilot; and Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot. The Apollo 9 mission will evaluate spacecraft lunar module systems performance during manned Earth-orbital flight.
context_page_description: Jim Morrison, the lead singer for The Doors, performed a controversial rock concert before 12,000 fans at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami. Three days later, a Miami court would issue warrants his arrest on a felony charge of indecent exposure and five misdemeanor charges although by that time, he was no longer in Miami. Morrison would return to Miami to be arraigned on the criminal charges on November 9 and remain free after posting bond. Following 16 days of testimony, Morrison would be found guilty of the indecent exposure charge on September 20, 1970 and would be sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine, but would post bail while the case was on appeal. Morrison would die of heart failure on July 3, 1971, during the time that the appeal was in progress.
  Clay Shaw, the only person ever indicted for conspiracy in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, was acquitted of all charges by a jury in New Orleans. Rejecting the argument by district attorney Jim Garrison that a conviction would "restore justice and truth and freedom in this country", the jury deliberated for only 55 minutes and concluded that Garrison had not proven his case.
  Born:
context_section_description: At 11:00 in the morning local time (1600 UTC), the United States launched Apollo 9, with astronauts James McDivitt, David Scott and Rusty Schweickart, in a test of the Apollo Lunar Module's ability to undock from, and then redock with, the lunar orbiter.  Associated Press reporter Paul Recer described the mission as "a flight that will put America on the moon's threshold or slam the door indefinitely".
  The United States Navy established the Navy Fighter Weapons School (profiled in the 1986 film Top Gun at Naval Air Station Miramar.
  Sirhan Sirhan took the witness stand to testify in his own defense at his trial for the murder of Bobby Kennedy, and, in questioning by defense attorney Grant Cooper, answer that he had shot Kennedy and that he recognized incriminating handwriting as his own, but denied that he remembered the shooting.
  Died: 
  Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi, 82, three-time Prime Minister of Iraq
  Fred Alexander, 88, American tennis player and winner of six Grand Slam doubles events
caption: Apollo 9
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