James McDivitt, a former NASA astronaut who commanded the Gemini IV and Apollo 9 missions, has died, the space agency said in a statement. He was 93.

McDivitt "passed away peacefully in his sleep" in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday as he was surrounded by family and friends, NASA said.

Throughout his decade working with NASA, McDivitt spent 14 days in space and took part in missions that helped lay the groundwork for putting a man on the moon.

McDivitt was selected to be a member of NASA's second astronaut class in 1962 after graduating from the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School.

In June 1965 he commanded the Gemini IV mission alongside another Air Force pilot, Ed White, who ventured outside his spacecraft for a spacewalk during the historic 4-day spaceflight.

McDivitt was commander of the Apollo 9 mission, which launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on March 3, 1969, alongside command module pilot David Scott and lunar module pilot Russell Schweickart.

"McDivitt's second spaceflight as the commander of Apollo 9 played a critical role in landing the first humans on the moon," NASA said. "This was the first flight of the complete set of Apollo hardware and was the first flight of the Lunar Module."

Prior to becoming an astronaut, McDivitt flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War in F-80 and F-86 aircraft, logging more than 5,000 flying hours during the course of his piloting career, NASA said.

McDivitt earned two NASA distinguished service medals and the NASA exceptional service medal, as well as two Air Force distinguished service medals, four distinguished flying crosses, five air medals and U.S. Air Force astronaut wings.

Related Links
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The distance to the Moon and the length of the day 2.46 billion years ago
Utrecht, The Netherlands (SPX) Oct 13, 2022
At a slow pace, the Moon is moving away from the Earth and the Earth is rotating more slowly around its axis. To say something about these changes in the distant past, geologists use information stored in rocks and fossils. But the further back in time they look, the more difficult it becomes to retrieve this information. An international team of earth scientists has now managed to accurately determine the distance to the Moon 2.46 billion years ago, using so-called Milankovitch cycles. This is more tha ... read more