[Apollo 9]

From the Personal Collection of Apollo 14 CMP Stuart Roosa.

A Group of Manuals and Assorted Mission Documents used by Stuart “Stu” Roosa as a member of the Apollo 9 Astronaut Support Crew, including his mission-critical CAPCOM notebook.

Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot Stu Roosa and his Apollo 14 crew mate Ed Mitchell both served as members of the Apollo 9 astronaut support crew. Apollo 9 was a wildly ambitious mission from a technical and engineering standpoint, as its success determined whether a Moon landing was possible- in JFK’s stated timeframe or otherwise. 

Roosa’s original assignment was to assist in coordinating the activities in mission control during Apollo 9. To prepare for the assignment, Roosa studied the technical details of the mission and logged months and months of simulation with the flight controllers.

This training and expertise proved incredibly valuable when Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9’s Lunar Module Pilot, grew ill on the flight due to motion sickness. Roosa was integral in reorganizing the schedule to salvage as many mission objectives as possible. 

As historian Andrew Chaikin writes in his Apollo Program chronology, Man on the Moon, “[Roosa] knew more about the flight plan than any astronaut who was still on earth, and he was at the Capcom’s mike almost every minute that McDivitt’s crew was awake” (p. 345). 

The incredible depth of Roosa’s expertise and collaborative spirit to help the crew of Apollo 9 through their mission are showcased not only in his CapCom notebook with pages of notes and calculations but in a certificate awarded him for his support “in the trenches.” 

Altogether, the manuals, notebooks, assorted documents, and certificate in the present lot speak to the staggering technical expertise required to make humanity’s first steps on the Moon. 

Roosa’s exemplary performance on the Apollo 9 mission drew the attention of Deke Slayton and Chris Kraft as they planned the crews for the later Apollo missions. His assistance to the Apollo 9 crew helped lead to his placement of the prime crew of Apollo 14 without having served as a backup.