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Apollo 9 (March 3–13, 1969) was the third crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program. Launched by a Saturn V and flown in low Earth orbit, the mission flight-qualified the Lunar Module, showing that its crew could fly it independently, then rendezvous and dock, as would be required for Apollo 11, the first crewed lunar landing. Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon. A spacewalk tested the extravehicular life support backpack. McDivitt and Schweickart, entering the Lunar Module through the docking tunnel, became the first humans to pass between spacecraft without going outside them, two months after Soviet cosmonauts spacewalked to transfer between Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. Apollo 9, a complete success, was followed by Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11. This photograph shows Schweickart operating a Hasselblad camera on the porch of the Lunar Module during an extravehicular activity on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 mission. The image was taken by Scott while standing in the hatch of the Command Module Gumdrop.

Photograph credit: David Scott / NASA