NASA Fifty-five years ago today, NASA astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart splashed down 4.5 nautical miles from the USS Guadalcanal, concluding a successful 10-day Earth-orbital mission in space. In this image from March 13, 1969, a recovery helicopter hovers above the Apollo 9 spacecraft; the astronauts were still inside the command module. Apollo 9 was the first crewed flight of the command/service module along with the lunar module. The mission’s three-person crew tested several aspects critical to landing on the Moon including the lunar…
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