Apollo 9 ... 45 Years Ago Today ...

Gumdrop and Spider. 45 years ago today, the crew of commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot Dave Scott, and Lunar Module pilot Rusty Schweikart tested out the lunar module in low earth orbit as a prelude to landing on the moon. 

The mission was almost scuttled as Schweikart got ill and it looked like he wouldn't be able to test out the PLSS backpack, and without that, they couldn't separate the LM and test it out on it's own.  But Schweikart better by the next morning and the test was successful.  Next up would be the dress rehearsal, as Apollo 10 would go back to the moon and come within 60 nautical miles of the landing.  That would be the job of Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins.