Editing David Scott (section)

===Apollo 9===
{{Main|Apollo 9}}
[[File:Załogi misji Apollo 1 S66-30238.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|alt=Six men in flight suits|The prime and backup crews for [[Apollo 1]]. Scott is standing at left.]]

Scott's Apollo assignment was as backup senior pilot/navigator for what would become known as [[Apollo&nbsp;1]], scheduled for launch in February 1967, with [[Jim McDivitt]] as backup commander and [[Russell Schweickart]] as pilot. In that capacity, they spent much of their time at [[Rockwell International|North American Rockwell]]'s plant in [[Downey, California]], where the [[command and service module]] (CSM) for that mission was under construction.{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|p=183}}

By January 1967, Scott's crew had been assigned as prime crew for a subsequent Apollo mission and were at Downey on January 27 when a fire took the lives of the Apollo{{nbs}}1 prime crew during a pre-launch test.{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|p=190}} During the fire, the inward-opening hatch had proved impossible for the astronauts to open, and Scott's post-fire assignment, with all flights put on hold amid a complete review of the Apollo program, was to serve on the team designing a simpler, outward-opening hatch.{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|pp=193–195}}

After the pause, Scott's crew was assigned to [[Apollo 8]], intended to be an Earth-orbit test of the full Apollo spacecraft, including the [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] (LM).{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|p=208}} There were delays in the development of the lunar module and in August 1968, NASA official [[George Low]] proposed that if [[Apollo&nbsp;7]] in October went well, Apollo{{nbs}}8 should go to lunar orbit without a Lunar Module, so as not to hold up the program. The Earth-orbit test would become Apollo{{nbs}}9.{{sfn|Chaikin|pp=56–59}} McDivitt was offered Apollo{{nbs}}8 by Slayton, but turned it down on behalf of his crew (who fully agreed), preferring to wait for [[Apollo 9]], which would involve extensive testing of the spacecraft and was dubbed "a test pilot's dream".{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=328–329}}

As [[command module pilot]] for Apollo{{nbs}}9 Scott's responsibilities were heavy. The LM was to separate from the CSM during the mission; if it failed to return, Scott would have to run the entire spacecraft for reentry, normally a three-man job. He would also have to go rescue the LM if it could not perform the rendezvous, and if it could not dock, would have to assist McDivitt and Schweickart in performing an [[extravehicular activity]] (EVA) or spacewalk, back to the CSM.{{sfn|Scott & Leonov|pp=215–217}} Scott was somewhat unhappy, though, that CSM-103, which he had worked on extensively, would stay with Apollo{{nbs}}8, with Apollo{{nbs}}9 given CSM-104.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=338–339}}
[[File:Gumdrop Meets Spider - GPN-2000-001100.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|alt=Astronaut halfway out of spacecraft, Earth in background|Scott stands in the open hatch of the Apollo{{nbs}}9 Command Module ''Gumdrop''.]]

The planned February 28, 1969, launch date was postponed as all three astronauts had head colds, and NASA was wary of medical issues in space after problems on Apollo{{nbs}}7 and Apollo{{nbs}}8.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=340–341}} The launch took place on March 3, 1969. Within hours of launch, Scott had performed a maneuver essential to the lunar landing by piloting the CSM ''Gumdrop'' away from the [[S-IVB]] rocket stage, then turned ''Gumdrop'' around and docked with the LM ''Spider'' still attached to the S-IVB, before the combined spacecraft separated from the rocket.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=342–343}}

Schweickart vomited twice on the third day in space, suffering from [[space adaptation syndrome]]. He was supposed to do a spacewalk from the LM's hatch to that of the CM the following day, proving that this could be done under emergency conditions, but because of concerns about his condition, simply exited the LM while Scott stood in the CM's hatch, bringing in experiments and photographing Schweickart. On the fifth day in space, March 7, McDivitt and Schweickart in the LM ''Spider'' flew away from the CSM while Scott remained in ''Gumdrop'', making him the first American astronaut to be alone in space since the [[Mercury program]]. After the redocking, ''Spider'' was jettisoned.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=343–352}} The LM had gone over 100 miles (160{{nbs}}km) from the CSM during the test.<ref name="nasabio" />

The remainder of the mission was devoted to tests of the command module, mostly performed by Scott; Schweickart called these days "Dave Scott's mission"; McDivitt and Schweickart had much time to observe the Earth as Scott worked. The mission stayed in space one orbit longer than planned due to rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean recovery zone.{{sfn|French & Burgess|pp=352–353}} Apollo{{nbs}}9 splashed down on March 13, 1969, less than four nautical miles (7{{nbs}}km) from the helicopter carrier [[USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)|USS ''Guadalcanal'']],<ref name="nasabio" /> {{convert|180|mi}} east of the Bahamas.{{sfn|French & Burgess|p=353}}