Apollo+40: Apollo 9 takes to the skies!

Apollo 9 Crew Members (L-R) Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot Dave Scott, Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart (NASA)

Launch of Apollo 9, 11:00:00 EST, March 3, 1969 (NASA)

At 11:00:00 EST forty years ago today, the Apollo Program got airborne again with the flight of Apollo 9. Apollo 9 was a return to Earth orbit for the vital first manned flight test of the Lunar Module.

Astronauts Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott, and Rusty Schweickart rode Saturn V booster #504 into orbit on board Command/Service Module #104 with Lunar Module #3 in tow.

11 minutes and 14 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39, Pad A, Apollo 9 attained orbit.

Follow along here as Their Finest Hour commemorates the 40th anniversary of the flight of Apollo 9!