RIP James McDivitt

[treadigraph]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/10/18/james-mcdivitt-astronaut-who-set-endurance-record-gemini-4-whose/

James McDivitt, who has died aged 93, piloted the American spacecraft Gemini 4 in 1965 on a four-day mission that set a new endurance record for two-man space flight and later commanded the Apollo 9 mission that helped to pave the way for the first Moon landings.

[tdracer]

Another one down :(. It's just a matter of time before all the Apollo astronauts are gone (we've already lost about half of them). I know McDivitt never made it to the moon, but the only people who have been to another heavily body are Apollo astronauts.
When they shutdown the Apollo program in 1972, I don't think anyone involved really thought they'd all be gone before we made it back to the moon. Today, that's become a very real possibility (especially if it's dependent on SLS :ugh:)

[treadigraph]

Think I'm right in suggesting that only the Apollo 8 crew is still complete - Borman, Lovell and Anders.

Even including the Apollo-Soyuz and Skylab missions, they are thin on the ground now.

[NineEighteen]

Link that’s not behind a paywall (NASA) (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/correction-apollo-astronaut-james-mcdivitt-dies-at-age-93)

[fdr]

Apollo 9 was an exceptional engineering flight. The tests provided for a fair bit of knowledge that was relied on for the Apollo 13 recovery. Much of the emergency actions that were required by the O2 tank failure came from the earlier data and system testing. Apart from the LMP's "chicken salad"...

Gemini 4 was also important, for initial rendezvous, Dave Whites EVA and the discovery of the same problem that had nearly killed Alexi Leonov on Voshkod-2.

Ed White just before overheating trying to get an expanded suit back inside
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1422x1354/screen_shot_2022_10_19_at_10_27_17_pm_b8cd9d87a32d7255931f23 d6c029bc59a2f86bbf.png
Alexi Leonov on the first ever space walk, before having a major scare trying to get back into the blow up transfer chamber.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/374x267/firstspacewalk_b08621f40de12470d324b73f07fcf7e0ca0e6d71.png

Back when testing was done in real time without the HR, CRM, FAA, EASA, ICAO PC bandaids
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/907x755/screen_shot_2022_10_19_at_10_33_19_pm_afb53faa38f138db0b808b fa96068c6d544ccf46.png

That was a life well lived. Vlad, take note.

[wiggy]

Think I'm right in suggesting that only the Apollo 8 crew is still complete - Borman, Lovell and Anders.

Even including the Apollo-Soyuz and Skylab missions, they are thin on the ground now.

Correct.

FWIW of no little historical importance is Jim McDivitt's role in Neil Armstrong being the first man on the Moon.

In the original mission planning McDivitt's crew were meant to fly their "D" Mission (LM in Low Earth) as the second planned manned Apollo flight. Due to the way crew rotation worked that put Pete Conrad, McDivitt's backup, in the slot to command the first Moon landing ( the G mission).

As it turned out LM development ran late, the second flight got rejigged to go LM'less to the Moon (a mission profile that was never in the original NASA plan) ...McDivitt declined to fly it since he was determined to stick with his LM, so Borman's crew moved up one flight in the sequence....and that put Borman's back up, Armstrong onto G, aka Apollo 11...

Shortly after 9 it's rumoured McDivitt was offered the option of a landing on a later mission alongside a fit again Al Shepard.....McDivitt wasn't a Shepard fan and was having none of it, instead he moved into Apollo management.