Jim McDivitt

Originally from the Personal Collection of Apollo 9 Commander James McDivitt

AN ARRAY OF HONORS AWARDED TO COLONEL JAMES “JIM” MCDIVITT  

Born in Chicago, IL and raised in Kalamazoo MI, McDivitt enlisted in the US Air Force in 1951 after the start of the Korean War. As a private, he applied for pilot training and became the first in his class to make a solo flight. After earning his pilot wings and regular commission, McDivitt flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War in F-80 Shooting Stars and F-86 Sabres, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses. One of these awards is present in this lot.  

Post-war he attended the University of Michigan through the US Air Force Institute of Technology Program and graduated at the top of his class in aeronautical engineering in 1959. Upon graduating, he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. Merely two months later, McDivitt had logged over 2,500 flight hours. These hours included his time as a chase pilot for Robert White’s historic X-15 flight in which White became the first X-15 pilot to earn astronaut wings for reaching altitude over 50 miles high. McDivitt was expected to fly the X-15 after White left, but left himself to join NASA’s Astronaut Group 2, “the New Nine.”  

McDivitt continued to lead at NASA. He was appointed Commander of Gemini IV, his first spaceflight. His Gemini crewmate Ed White completed the first American spacewalk on their mission, NASA’s most significant accomplishment to that date. While Ed White is known for his famous spacewalk, it was McDivitt’s photography of that historic event that captured what it truly meant for humans to live in space.  

McDivitt reprised his role as Commander on Apollo 9, which was the first outing of the full Apollo spacecraft, including the Lunar Module, and an essential preparation for Apollo 11. McDivitt chose not to pursue command of lunar missions and instead transitioned to a management role where he served as manager for Lunar Landing Operations in the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, responsible for planning the lunar landing missions post-Apollo 11. As spaceflight historian Francis French told NPR in 2022, “It was more important to McDivitt that the overall program was a success than to personally land on the Moon.” 

The present lot speaks not only to the significant leadership and talent demonstrated by McDivitt over the course of a colorful career, but also to the incredible esteem in which he was held by his peers nationwide.  

LITERATURE 

Kim, Juliana. NPR. “Former NASA astronaut Jim McDivitt, who led Gemini and Apollo missions, dies at 93,” 17 October 2022.  

Levasseur, Jennifer. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. “From Ann Arbor to Orbit: Celebrating the Life of James A. McDivitt,” 19 October 2022.  

NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. James A. McDivitt Interviewed by Doug Ward. Elk Lake, Michigan. 29 June 1999. Accessed 9 June 2025.