#Russell schweickart

[sideprojectillustration]

Astronaut Russell Schweickart, Apollo 9 Lunar Module pilot, photographed inside Lunar Module "Spider" during the Apollo 9 earth-orbital mission.

Photo credit: NASA.

[spacemonkiesmafia]

A little dopamine boost :)

Astronauts Bill Anders, Charles Bassett, Elliot See, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, Russell Schweickart, and Walter Cunningham on a Geology Training Outing in Hawaii. Circa January 29th, 1965

[randomrichards]

FOR ALL MANKIND:

Collected footage

NASA’s journeys to the moon

The beauty of space

[lonestarflight]

Astronaut Russell Schweickart photographed during EVA

"Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot, stands in 'golden slippers' on the Lunar Module porch during his extravehicular activity on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 Earth-orbital mission. This photograph was taken from inside the Lunar Module 'Spider'. The Command and Service Modules were docked to the LM. Schweickart is wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). Inside the "Spider" was astronaut James A. McDivitt, Apollo 9 crew commander. Astronaut David R. Scott, command module pilot, remained at the controls of the Command Module, 'Gumdrop.'"

Date: March 6, 1969

NASA ID: AS09-19-2994, AS09-19-2983, AS09-20-3094

[photos-of-space]

Excellent view of the docked Apollo 9 command and service modules (CSM) and lunar module (LM), with Earth in the background, during astronaut David R. Scott's stand-up spacewalk, on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 Earth-orbital mission. Scott, command module pilot, is standing in the open hatch of the command module. Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot, took this photograph of Scott from the porch of the LM. Inside the LM was astronaut James A. McDivitt, Apollo 9 commander.

[moonwatchuniverse]

60 years ago... NASA astronaut group 3 October 18, 1963 as NASA presented the third astronaut group nicknamed "" The Fourteen "" with 7 USAF officer pilots, 4 US Navy officer aviators, 1 US Marine Corps officer navigator and 2 civilians. Top row: Richard Gordon, Theodore Freeman, Don Eisele, Michael Collins, Walter Cunningham, Clifton Williams and David Scott. Front row: Roger Chaffee, Eugene Cernan, Alan Bean, Charles Bassett, William Anders, Edwin Aldrin and Russell Schweickart. Those coming from the military were often wearing Bulova 3818 wrist watches with a 24 hours dial. (Photo: NASA)

[zerogate]

The Overview Effect was described by space theorist and author Frank White in the 1980s. At that time there were enough astronauts who reported similar feelings about being in space and seeing Earth from space to identify an initial pattern.

White observed, “The Overview Effect is the experience of seeing the Earth from a distance, especially from orbit or the Moon, and realizing the inherent unity and oneness of everything on the planet. The Effect represents a shift in perception wherein the viewer moves from identification with parts of the Earth to identification with the whole system.”

Astronaut Russell Schweickart described his experience as if he were part of Earth as a type of sensing instrument: “When you go around the Earth in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. And that makes a change.… [I]t comes through to you so powerfully that you’re the sensing element for man.”

[…]

Anthropologist Deana Weibel analyzes the reports of astronauts’ experiences in space and how they impact their cosmologies or views of the universe. She addresses the Overview Effect but also identifies another state, which she coined the Ultraview Effect. The Ultraview Effect incorporates the more perplexing and disturbing aspects of these new experiences. She explores the ways in which encountering the Earth and other celestial objects in ways never before experienced by human beings has influenced some astronauts’ cosmological understandings.

Weibel recognized that there was considerable overlap between astronauts’ descriptions and those described by scholar Timothy Morton with respect to “hyperobjects.”

Morton wrote that hyperobjects are objects that exist yet are almost unfathomable to comprehend. They include objects found in other dimensions, such as Platonic solids, but also objects that are so large that they are a shock to human comprehension: There exists a reality to certain huge objects or systems that is separate from humanity’s ability to perceive them.

While human beings throughout the ages have had a slow but increasing awareness of large objects (like the globe or the ocean, for example), Morton specifically used hyperobject to refer to “massively distributed entities that can be thought or computered, but not directly touched or seen,” meaning our main awareness of them is achieved through the use of technology.

Weibel credits Morton for recognizing that “human ‘contact’ with these objects is transformative in a very disruptive way.” She notes, “Hyperobjects are normally phased, meaning we only see parts of them at any given time, so they seem to come and go. In this view, the reality of a thing exists apart from our piecemeal impressions of the reality of things, and at this point in time we are starting, slowly, to comprehend them in their entirety.”

The cognition of hyperobjects through technology—both at the micro level enabled by the use of computers, which can model objects in other dimensions, and at the macro level with the use of telescopes and space capsules to view massive objects in space, which are encountered within the seemingly infinite substrate of space—constitutes the historic moment in which we live now. “This is the historical moment at which hyperobjects become visible by humans. This visibility changes everything.”

Morton characterizes the emotions aroused by encountering these objects as pain and disgust. Weibel’s analysis reveals an experience more in line with Otto’s idea of the numinous. She notes, “Our familiar illusions are replaced with a frightening perception of something truly alien.” This new sight, in other words, initiates a shift in worldview. This consciousness of what is truly “alien” reorients those who encounter it. Russell Schweickart described himself as a literal instrument, a “sensing element for man.” Edgar Mitchell felt a “palpable” experience of divinity and connection in space that led to a life-long exploration of the noetic transmission of knowledge.

The new consciousness, powerfully felt and embodied by Schweickart and Mitchell, suggests that the human body and mind, confronted with hyperobjects in space, undergo a process of reception of consciousness that they are compelled to transmit to others. Researchers who study the psychological states of astronauts observe that, just as Otto remarked about the encounter with the numinous, “awe can transform people and reorient their lives, goals, and values. Given the stability of personality and values … awe-inducing events may be one of the fastest and most powerful methods of personal change and growth.”

Among those who experienced these alien mental states, some were struck with a feeling that extraterrestrial life is inevitable. Weibel’s sensitive elaboration of an Apollo astronaut’s experience illustrates this shift in worldview:

Looking at the universe out there from my vantage point, I began to realize that we don’t know crap about anything, we really don’t.… [A]t some points in my orbit around the moon, I was sheltered from both the earth and the sun, so I was in complete darkness. And all of a sudden, the star patterns out there became something that I was not ready for.… So many stars I couldn’t see one. Just a sheet of light. I don’t know whether you’d call it spiritual or not, but when I saw the starfield out there in a way that nobody else has ever seen … I had some pretty profound thoughts.… We are not unique in the universe. When I came back from my flight, we were all totally exhausted.… I’d sit in my living room and all these thoughts would come flowing through, so I began writing them down.… They flowed from my mind through a pen onto a piece of paper. It was like I was being guided by something.

-- D. W. Pasulka, Encounters

[simonh]

Apollo 9 Launch by NASA on The Commons Via Flickr: The launch of the Apollo 9 (Spacecraft 104/Lunar Module 3/ Saturn 504) space vehicle, with astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart aboard, took place on March 3, 1969 at 11:00 a.m. EST. The Apollo 9 spacecraft, in the lunar mission configuration, was tested in Earth orbit. The mission was designed to rehearse all the steps and reproduce all the events of the Apollo 11 mission with the exception of the lunar touchdown, stay, and liftoff. The command and service modules, and the lunar module were used in flight procedures identical to those that would later take similar vehicles to the Moon, and a landing. The flight mechanics, mission support systems, communications, and recording of data were tested in a final round of verification. It was the second Saturn V mission launched with a crew. Photo number:6901356 Date taken: March 3, 1969

[michaelgabrill]

55 Years Ago: Four Months Until the Moon Landing

The road to the Moon landing cleared a major hurdle in March 1969 with the flight of Apollo 9 that tested all components of the spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Russell L. Schweickart flew the Lunar Module (LM) Spider while David R. Scott awaited their return in the Command Module […] from NASA https://ift.tt/Q7rDpA1

[spacenutspod]

Following the success of the Apollo 8 circumlunar mission, NASA believed that it could achieve a Moon landing by the summer of 1969 and meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal. Much work remained to accomplish that objective. Three crews and their backups trained for the next three Apollo missions while workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida prepared the spacecraft and rockets for those flights. With Apollo 9 in the home stretch to test the Lunar Module (LM) in Earth orbit in early March, preparations also continued for Apollo 10 in May, a lunar orbit test of the LM that served as a dress rehearsal for the Moon landing, and for Apollo 11, the landing mission itself planned for July. Apollo 8 Left: Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman and his wife Susan, at left, meet the Royal family at Buckingham Palace during the London stop of their European tour. Middle: Borman, left, meets with French President Charles de Gaulle and U.S. Ambassador to France R. Sargent Shriver during the Paris stop of the tour. Right: In Brussels, Borman, left, presents a model of the Saturn V rocket to Jean Rey, president of the European Commission. Left: In Den Haag, The Netherlands, Apollo 8 astronaut Borman, right, describes the Lunar Module to Queen Juliana. Middle: At The Vatican, Borman, left, presents a photograph of the Moon from Apollo 8 to Pope Paul VI. Right: The Bormans, Frank, left, Susan, and sons Edwin and Frederick, hold a press conference in Lisbon, the last stop of their European tour. As President Richard M. Nixon announced on Jan. 30, Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman, his wife Susan, and their two children Frederick and Edwin, set off on their European goodwill tour on Feb. 2, flying aboard a presidential Air Force jet. Borman’s Apollo 8 crewmates James A. Lovell and William A. Anders could not participate in the tour because they had already begun training as part of the Apollo 11 backup crew. The Bormans’ 19-day tour took them to London, Paris, Brussels, Den Haag, Bonn, West Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and Lisbon. They met with royalty, politicians, scientists, and Pope Paul VI, gave lectures during which Borman narrated a film from his flight, and held numerous press conferences. Apollo 9 Left: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, James A. McDivitt, and David R. Scott pose in front of the control panel for the spacecraft simulators. Middle: Fisheye lens view of Schweickart, left, and McDivitt in the Lunar Module simulator. Right: A technician poses in the Apollo A7L spacesuit, including the Portable Life Support System backpack used for the first time during Apollo 9. Apollo 9 astronauts James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart planned to conduct the first crewed test of the LM during their 10-day Earth orbital mission. They and their backups Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean spent many hours in the spacecraft simulators and training for the spacewalk component of the mission. The planned spacewalk, the first and only one before the Moon landing mission, would not only test the spacesuit and its Portable Life Support System but also demonstrate an external crew transfer should a problem arise with the internal transfer tunnel or hatches. McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart provided details of their mission to reporters during a press conference on Feb. 8 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They explained that during the mission phase when the two vehicles fly separately, they will use the call signs Spider for the LM and Gumdrop for the Command Module (CM), lighthearted references to the shapes of the respective spacecraft. Left: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, James A. McDivitt, and David R. Scott during the preflight crew press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Right: Senior NASA management assembled for the Apollo 9 Flight Readiness Review at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC): Associate Administrator for Manned Flight George E. Mueller, left, Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips, KSC Director Kurt H. Debus, MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth, and Marshall Space Flight Center Director Wernher von Braun. Senior NASA managers met at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida for Apollo 9’s Flight Readiness Review the first week of February. At the end of the meeting, they set the launch date for Feb. 28. The following week, engineers in Firing Room 2 of KSC’s Launch Control Center conducted the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT), essentially a dress rehearsal for the actual countdown. On Feb. 12, McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart participated in the final portion of the CDDT, as they would on launch day, by donning their spacesuits and climbing aboard their spacecraft for the final two hours of the test. Engineers began the countdown to launch on Feb. 26 but had to halt it the next day when the astronauts developed head colds. Managers reset the launch date to March 3, and the countdown restarted on March 1. Left: The Apollo 9 Saturn V at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT). Middle: Engineers in the Launch Control Center’s Firing Room 2 monitor the rocket and spacecraft during the CDDT. Right: Apollo 9 astronauts Russell L. Schweickart, left, David R. Scott, and James A. McDivitt pose in front of their Saturn V following the CDDT. Apollo 10 Stacking of the Apollo 10 vehicle in High Bay 2 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Left: The three stages of the Saturn V stacked on Mobile Launcher-3. Middle left: The Apollo 10 spacecraft, the Command and Service Modules and the Lunar Module (LM) encased in the Spacecraft LM Adapter, arrives from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building. Middle right: Workers lift the spacecraft for stacking onto the rocket, the footpads of the LM’s folded landing gear visible. Right: Workers lower the spacecraft onto the Saturn V rocket’s third stage. With Apollo 9 on Launch Pad 39A and almost ready to launch, workers in High Bay 2 of KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) completed stacking of the Apollo 10 launch vehicle. The spacecraft, consisting of the Command and Service Modules atop the LM encased in the Spacecraft LM Adapter, arrived from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) on Feb. 6 and VAB workers stacked it on the Saturn V rocket the same day. Engineers began to conduct integrated tests on the launch vehicle in preparation for rollout to Launch Pad 39B in mid-March. Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan and their backups L. Gordon Cooper, Donn F. Eisele, and Edgar D. Mitchell spent much time in spacecraft simulators and testing their spacesuits in vacuum chambers. Apollo 11 Left: Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, left, confers with support astronauts Ronald E. Evans and Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, the only geologist in the astronaut corps at the time, during training for deployment of the Early Apollo Science Experiment Package (EASEP). Right: Astronaut Don L. Lind, suited, practices deploying the EASEP instruments as Aldrin, in white shirt behind the dish antenna, oberves. With their historic mission only five months away, the Apollo 11 prime crew of Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin and their backups James A. Lovell, William A. Anders, and Fred W. Haise busied themselves training for the Moon landing. Although the primary goal of the first Moon landing mission centered on demonstrating that the Apollo spacecraft systems could safely land two astronauts on the surface and return them safely to Earth, the surface operations also included collecting lunar samples and deploying experiments. During their two-and-a-half-hour surface excursion, Armstrong and Aldrin planned to deploy three instruments comprising the Early Apollo Surface Experiment Package (EASEP) – a passive seismometer, a laser ranging retro-reflector, and a solar wind composition experiment. On Jan. 21, 1969, astronauts Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt, the only geologist in the astronaut corps, and Don L. Lind conducted a simulation of the EASEP deployment in MSC’s Building 9. Aldrin observed the simulation, obviously with great interest. Left: Apollo 11 astronauts Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, left, and Neil A. Armstrong during geology training at Sierra Blanco, Texas. Right: Apollo 11 backup astronauts Fred W. Haise, left, and James A. Lovell at the Sierra Blanco geology training session. Generic instruction in geology, including classroom work and field trips, became part of overall NASA astronaut training beginning in 1964. Once assigned to a crew that had a very good chance of actually walking on the lunar surface and collecting rock and soil samples, those astronauts received specialized instruction in geology. On Feb. 24, 1969, the two prime moonwalkers Armstrong and Aldrin, along with their backups Lovell and Haise, participated in their only trip specifically dedicated to geology training. The field exercise in west Texas took place near Sierra Blanca and the ruins of Fort Quitman, about 90 miles southeast of El Paso. Accompanied by a team from MSC’s Geology Branch, the astronauts practiced sampling the variety of rocks present at the site to obtain a representative collection, skills needed to choose the best sample candidates during their brief excursion on the lunar surface.  Left: Workers mount the S-IC first stage on its Mobile Launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Middle: Neil A. Armstrong stands in front of the Lunar Module simulator at the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Right: Aerial view of the LLRF at Langley. By mid-February, all three stages of the Apollo 11 Saturn V had arrived in the VAB, and on Feb. 21, workers stacked the S-IC first stage on its Mobile Launcher in High Bay 1. They finished assembling the rocket in March. In an altitude chamber in the nearby MSOB, on Feb. 10, engineers conducted a docking test between the CM and the LM. Five days later, they mated the ascent and descent stages of the LM for further testing. With the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) still grounded following its December 1968 crash, the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, remained as the only high-fidelity trainer for the descent and landing of the LM on the Moon. Armstrong practiced landings in the LLRF on Feb 12. Lunar Receiving Laboratory and Mobile Quarantine Facility To minimize the risk of back contamination of the Earth with any possible lunar microorganisms, NASA designed and built the 83,000-square-foot Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL), residing in MSC’s Building 37. The facility isolated the astronauts, their spacecraft, and lunar samples to prevent any Moon germs from escaping into the environment, and also maintained the lunar samples in as pristine a condition as possible. The Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) provided isolation for the returning astronauts from shortly after splashdown until their delivery to the LRL, an activity that required transport of the MQF on a cargo jet aircraft. On Feb. 6, following its return from sea trials, workers placed the MQF inside Chamber A of MSC’s Space Environment Simulation Facility. The test in the large vacuum chamber checked out the MQF’s emergency oxygen supply during a simulated aircraft pressure loss. Three test subjects successfully completed the test. Left: Workers truck the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) into the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Middle: Workers install the MQF in Chamber A of the SESL for a test of the emergency oxygen system. Right: Test subjects inside the MQF prepare for the emergency oxygen system test in the SESL. To be continued … News from around the world in February 1969: Feb. 3 – Ibuprofen launched in the United Kingdom as a prescription anti-inflammatory analgesic. Feb. 5 – The population of the United States reaches 200 million. Feb. 7 – British band The Who record their song “Pinball Wizard.” Feb. 7 – Diane Krump becomes the first woman jockey at a major U.S. racetrack (Hialeah, Florida). Feb. 8 – The Allende meteorite weighing nearly two tons explodes in mid-air and fragments fall on Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico. Feb. 9 – First flight of the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet from Everett, Washington. Feb. 21 – First launch of U.S.S.R.’s N-1 Moon rocket, not successful. Feb. 24 – U.S. launches Mariner 6 to fly-by Mars. Share Details Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 Related TermsNASA HistoryApollo Explore More 7 min read 30 Years Ago: Clementine Changes Our View of the Moon Article 4 days ago 3 min read NASA Goddard’s Beginnings in Project Vanguard Article 4 days ago 8 min read 55 Years Ago: President Nixon Establishes Space Task Group to Chart Post-Apollo Plans Article 1 week ago

[anumberofhobbies]

Here’s where idea to paint the little model guys’ helmets red came from.

[hypergremlinisation]

343. For All Mankind (Al Reinert, USA, 1989)

[lonestarflight]

View of docked Apollo 9 Command/Service Module and Lunar Module

"Excellent view of the docked Apollo 9 Command and Service Modules (CSM) and Lunar Module (LM), with Earth in the background, during astronaut David R. Scott's stand-up extravehicular activity (EVA), on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 Earth-orbital mission. Scott, command module pilot, is standing in the open hatch of the Command Module (CM). Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot, took this photograph of Scott from the porch of the LM. Inside the LM was astronaut James A. McDivitt, Apollo 9 commander."

Date: March 6, 1969

NASA ID: AS09-20-3064

[popculturerelapse]

[moonwatchuniverse]

55 years ago... busy times for Apollo 9 The Apollo 9 astronauts went from briefing to briefing as the press was informed on January 25, february 8 and 14, 1969. Commander James McDivitt, CMP David Scott and LMP Russell Schweickart. The Apollo 9 mission was planned to flight test both Apollo spacecraft for the first time in Low Earth Orbit as the Command & Service Module was going to dock with the Lunar Module. All aspects critical to landing on the Moon including the lunar module's engines, astronauts’ backpack life support systems, navigation systems and docking maneuvers were on the busy flightplan. Note all astronauts wore a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012 chronograph on a steel mesh Jacoby Bender Champion bracelet. The latter was choosen as it could be easily broken if an astronaut’s wrist got trapped inside the spacecraft. David Scott had a lightweight foldable "Timely" calendar pleated around the steel mesh bracelet. Note the running chronograph hand at Scott's Speedmaster 10:25. (Photo: NASA)

[riversidearchives]

Alan Shepard studying rocks in the Marathon Basin, West Texas

Astronauts Rock!

Between 1964 and 1965, they spent 120 hours on class work and took 8 field trips to learn about impact craters, mineralogy and petrology.  They visited exotic locales like Iceland, West Texas and Katmai National Monument in Alaska. Lesser known astronaut training images!

Michael Collins (center) and Russel Schweickart (right) with geologist Dr. Al Chidester in Marathon Basin, West Texas

Transcripts of the Katmai trip show astronaut C.C. Williams and Buzz Aldrin chatting it up on the radio.  Williams especially seemed to be enjoying the day, and also in great need of geological training: “Good evening sports fans, this is C.C. Williams and Buzz Aldrin broadcasting to you from the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes...I don’t know what this is, it has a lot of glass in it wouldn’t you say--there’s pink stuff on the outside….are you ready for us to begin this fiasco?...Ok, we’ve just landed in, we’ve stepped out here and we’ve looked around….these mountains to the south of our position are all stratified layers of somethingor other, I can’t figure, do you think you figure what that is over there, Buz?”  Buzz responded: “Not from here.”

Charlie Bassett (center) and David Scott (right) discussing structural geology with Geologist Uel Clanton in Marathon Basin, West Texas

Neil Armstong (left), Geologist Foss, Ed White (right) in Marathon Basin in West Texas

Alan Bean using a compass to take measurements, Marathon Basin, West Texas