1969 NASA Apollo Flight AS-504 Apollo 9

On the occasion of Apollo Flight AS-504, Apollo 9

Date: 3rd March 1969

Type: NASA Cover
CDS: -3MAR69B ST.GEORGES BERMUDA
Cachet: NASA BERMUDA STATION ON THE OCCASION OF NASA APOLLO FLIGHT AS-504, Apollo 9 MAR -3 1969 DA Healey Station Director
Address: Label not present
Stamp: 1968 Bermuda XIX Olympic Games Mexico City 1/-

More about AS-504, Apollo IX

Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the United States Apollo space programme and the first flight of the Command/Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). Its three-person crew, consisting of Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart, spent ten days in low Earth orbit testing several aspects critical to landing on the Moon, including the LM engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems, and docking manoeuvres. The mission was the second manned launch of a Saturn V rocket.

After launching on March 3rd 1969, the crewmen performed the first manned flight of a LM, the first docking and extraction of a LM, two spacewalks (EVA), and the second docking of two manned spacecraft – two months after the Soviets performed a spacewalk crew transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. The mission proved the LM worthy of manned spaceflight. Further tests on the Apollo 10 mission would prepare the LM for its ultimate goal, landing on the Moon. They returned to Earth on March 13th 1969.