Apollo 9 in early 1969. However, LM problems again prevented it from being ready for the D mission by December, so NASA officials created another mission for Apollo 8 using the Saturn V to launch only the CSM on the first crewed flight to orbit the Moon, and the E mission was cancelled as unnecessary. Slayton asked McDivitt and Borman which mission they preferred to fly; McDivitt wanted to fly the LM, while Borman volunteered for the pioneering lunar flight. Therefore, Slayton swapped the crews, and McDivitt's crew flew Apollo 9. The crew swap also affected who would be the first crew
Apollo 9 October 23, 1981. The descent stage of LM-3 "Spider" (1969-018D) reentered on March 22, 1969. The upper stage of the Apollo 9 Saturn V, S-IVB-504N, (1969-018B) remains in heliocentric (solar) orbit . NASA reports Multimedia Apollo 9 Apollo 9 was the third crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program and the first flight of the command and service module (CSM) with the lunar module (LM, pronounced "lem"). Its three-person crew consisted of Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. The crew spent ten days in low Earth orbit testing several aspects