Apollo 9

Following the collossal gamble and achievement that was Apollo 8, NASA went back to checking the boxes: "The primary objective of Apollo 9 was an Earth-orbital engineering test of the first crewed lunar module, or LM. Other prime objectives included an overall checkout of launch vehicle and spacecraft systems, the crew, and procedures." — NASA.gov Starting on March 3rd, 1969, everything went more-or-less to plan. And that's part of why you don't remember much about it. Jim McDivitt (Gemini 4 veteran — yes, he commanded the mission with Ed White's first-American-spacewalk), Dave Scott (Gemini 8 veteran — yes, the one where he and Neil Armstrong spun out while attached to the Agena and nearly died — Scott would go on to command Apollo 15), and Rusty Schweickart (rookie, this was his only spaceflight) flew "as successful a flight as any of us could ever wish for, as well as being as successful as any of us have ever seen." — George Mueller, associate NASA administrator.

Jayne and I came in August of 2023 to the San Diego Air & Space Museum to see Apollo 9's "Gumdrop" command module. It was only the second crewed mission to use the Saturn V launch vehicle, but also "only" went to low/medium Earth orbit. The third-stage S-IV-b rocket was used to propel itself into heliocentric (solar) orbit where it remains to this day, but the LM-CSM spacecraft stayed closer to Earth. I assume its lower speed in LEO and at re-entry explains why so much of the silver Kapton foil seems to have survived compared to the moon-bound capsules I've seen.

Anyway, she's a beautiful ship in an accessible display surrounded by a first-class museum. Go check Gumdrop out when you can.

Apollo 10

About which, also, little is remembered. NASA historical document on Apollo 10, where we learn that "The Apollo 10 Command Module 'Charlie Brown' is on display at the Science Museum, London, England." Okay, I may not get to see that one. But we'll keep it on the list anyway.

AS-201

Here's one to keep on the list, just because it's as close as Omaha: AS-201, an unmanned test launch from 1966. I got information on it from this website, which is a gold mine.

OV-105 Space Shuttle Endeavour

In 1987, Congress authorized NASA to use structural spare parts and let new contracts to build a replacement for Challenger. Space Shuttle Endeavour is that ship. She lives at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. And she's about to go into hiding!

The CSC is building a brand-new facility to permanently house OV-105, on display here in downtown LA since 2012 — only a few miles from where she was constructed in Palmdale. Right now, she sits on earthquake-mount pylons in a wheels-up configuration (Discovery, at D.C.'s Udvar-Hazy Center, sits atop her wheel struts, and low enough to prevent passing directly beneath), high enough to let you walk right under her belly and inspect tile damage from her final flight up close! And to shop for souvenirs directly under her nose. An interesting detail I noticed is that Atlantis (at KSC) and Discovery both appeared "dirty" to me. Not dusty like recently-uncleaned, but like "used." Which I guess is appropriate, since all of them ARE used. But Endeavour looks shiny. Polished. Ready to go again. And that's good, because at the end of 2023 America's fifth space-going shuttle will be moved to her new berth but then removed from public viewing for up to two more years while the building and exhibit space around her are completed. Different from Atlantis and Discovery, she'll be displayed vertically, as a full STS stack along with the last unflown external tank and a pair of SRBs. It will be amazing, and I will be back.

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

After the Apollo moon landings were finished, a few circumstances came together: 1) There were still some Apollo flight-ready spacecraft available; 2) There were still a few capabilities to test, like the ability to mount a rescue in space; 3) Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, was medically cleared to fly from the Afib that grounded him way back in 1962 before he ever got to space; and 4) The Soviets were willing to do a little showboating/show of cooperation dance, and so were we. CSM-111 was a "surplus" from the original Apollo program, and following the July 24, 1975 return from orbit — six years to the day after Apollo 11 did the same — the Apollo program truly ended.

The American ASTP command module capsule is owned by the Smithsonian, on "official" display with KSC, but currently on indefinite display at the California Science Center, also the home of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the Gemini 11 capsule, and the Mercury-Redstone capsule that flew spacechimp Ham into space.

Resources

Links to resources used in creating the above:

http://www.spaceflightonline.com/Apollo%20Command%20Modules
Very similar to this blog, the above site lists the known Apollo capsules, their locations, and shows pictures of each.

http://historicspacecraft.com/Apollo_Capsules.html
Also a great site, though incomplete, showing photos and locations.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apolloloc.html
An incredibly slow site, devoid of pictures, but still listing each capsule and location, with links to copious information about each flight.

Here's a display plaque from the San Diego Air & Space Museum in August, 2023 listing all the CM locations. No guarantees of accuracy will be offered.