Editing Apollo 9 (section)

== Mission background ==
{{Further|Apollo program}}

In April 1966, McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart were selected by Director of Flight Crew Operations [[Deke Slayton]] as the second Apollo crew. Their initial job was as backup to the first Apollo crew to be chosen, [[Gus Grissom]], [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]], and [[Roger Chaffee]], for the first crewed Earth orbital test flight of the [[Apollo command and service module#Development history|block I command and service module]],<ref>{{cite news |title='Open End' Orbit Planned for Apollo |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ReojAAAAIBAJ&dq=apollo-1&pg=7152%2C998301 |agency=United Press International |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Press|The Pittsburgh Press]] |location=Pittsburgh, PA |date=August 4, 1966 |page=20 |access-date=July 11, 2019|via=Google News}}</ref> designated [[Apollo 1|AS-204]]. Delays in the block I CSM development pushed AS-204 into 1967. The revised plan had the McDivitt crew scheduled for the second crewed CSM, which was to rendezvous in Earth orbit with an uncrewed LM, launched separately. The third crewed mission, to be commanded by [[Frank Borman]], was to be the first launch of a Saturn{{nbsp}}V with a crew.<ref name="chariots_preparation">[[#Brooks, et al.|Brooks, et al. 1979]], Chapter 8.7: [https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch8-7.html "Preparations for the First Manned Apollo Mission"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515032936/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch8-7.html |date=May 15, 2021 }})</ref>

On January 27, 1967, Grissom's crew was conducting a launch-pad test for their planned February 21 mission, which they named [[Apollo 1]], when a fire broke out in the cabin, killing all three men.{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=12–18}} A complete safety review of the Apollo program followed.{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|pp=193–195}} During this time [[Apollo 5]] took place, an uncrewed launch to test the first lunar module (LM-1).<ref>{{cite web|title =Apollo 5 (AS-204)|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1968-007A|work=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive|publisher=[[NASA]]|access-date=April 26, 2019}}</ref>

Under the new schedule, the first Apollo crewed mission to go into space would be [[Apollo 7]], planned for October 1968. This mission, which was to test the block II [[Apollo command and service module#Command module (CM)|command module]], did not include a lunar module.<ref name = "Apollo 7">{{cite web|title=Apollo 7 (AS-205)|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo7.cfm|publisher=[[National Air and Space Museum]]|access-date=April 26, 2019|archive-date=July 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704011501/https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo7.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1967, NASA had adopted a series of lettered missions leading up to the crewed lunar landing, the "G mission", completion of one being a prerequisite to the next.<ref name="chronology">[[#chronology|Ertel, Roland, & Brooks 1975]], Part 2(D): [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p2d.htm "Recovery, Spacecraft Redefinition, and First Manned Apollo Flight"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523002535/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/v4p2d.htm |date=May 23, 2021 }}).</ref> Apollo{{nbsp}}7 would be the "C{{nbsp}}mission", but the "D{{nbsp}}mission" required testing of the crewed lunar module, which was running behind schedule and endangering [[John F. Kennedy]]'s goal of Americans walking on the Moon and returning safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s.{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=56–57}}<ref name="chariots_proposal">[[#Brooks, et al.|Brooks, et al. 1979]], Chapter 11.2: [https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-2.html "Proposal for a lunar orbit mission"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509004916/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-2.html |date=May 9, 2021 }})</ref> McDivitt's crew had been announced by NASA in November 1967 as prime crew for the D{{nbsp}}mission, lengthy testing of the command and lunar modules in Earth orbit.<ref name="chariots_training">[[#Brooks, et al.|Brooks, et al. 1979]], Chapter 11.3: [https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-3.html "Selecting and training crews"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504162810/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch11-3.html |date=May 4, 2021 }})</ref>

Seeking to keep Kennedy's goal on schedule, in August 1968, Apollo Program Manager [[George M. Low]] proposed that if Apollo{{nbsp}}7 in October went well, Apollo{{nbsp}}8 would go to lunar orbit without a LM.{{efn|The Lunar Module was originally named the Lunar Excursion Module, abbreviated and pronounced as "LEM". Once the name was shortened to LM, NASA personnel continued to pronounce LM as "lem".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Cortright |editor-first=E. M. |year=1975 |chapter=4.2: Two Magnificent Flying Machines |chapter-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011123030638/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-4-2.html |title=Apollo Expeditions to the Moon |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19760005868 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration |id=SP-350}}</ref>}} Until then, Apollo{{nbsp}}8 was the D{{nbsp}}mission with Apollo{{nbsp}}9 the "E mission", testing in [[medium Earth orbit]].<ref name='chronology' /><ref name="chariots_proposal" />{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=298–299}} After NASA approved sending Apollo{{nbsp}}8 to the Moon, while making Apollo{{nbsp}}9 the D{{nbsp}}mission, Slayton offered McDivitt the opportunity to stay with Apollo{{nbsp}}8 and thus go to lunar orbit. McDivitt turned it down on behalf of his crew, preferring to stay with the D{{nbsp}}mission, now Apollo{{nbsp}}9.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=328–329}}{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=62, 141}}

Apollo{{nbsp}}7 went well, and the crews were switched.{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=76–77}} The crew swap also affected who would be the first [[astronaut]]s to land on the Moon, for when the crews for Apollo{{nbsp}}8 and{{nbsp}}9 were swapped, so were the backup crews. Since the rule of thumb was for backup crews to fly as prime crew three missions later, this put [[Neil Armstrong]]'s crew (Borman's backup) in position to make the first landing attempt on [[Apollo 11]] instead of [[Pete Conrad]]'s crew,{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=136–137}} who made the second landing on [[Apollo 12]].{{sfn|Chaikin|p=597}}