Apollo 9 was first manned test of the Lunar Module (LM) with the command and service module. The crew successfully docked, undocked, and redocked the LM. This was of paramount importance for the mission to the moon because the LM would need to redock with the command module for transit back to earth.

A few statistics:

• Crew: James McDivitt, David Scott, and Rusty Schweickartdock

• Launch Vehicle: Saturn V

• Date: March 3 -13, 1969