At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers stacked the Apollo 10 spacecraft onto its Saturn V rocket on February 6, 1969. Engineers then began integrated tests in preparation for the vehicle’s planned rollout to the launch pad. [S1]
For Apollo 9, engineers rehearsed the countdown while astronauts practiced the final steps they would take on launch day. The planned Earth-orbit mission would test the lunar module, and a spacewalk was intended to test life-support equipment and an external route between spacecraft if the internal passage or hatches had a problem. [S1]
NASA also prepared for a possible risk to people on Earth. Its Lunar Receiving Laboratory was designed to isolate returning astronauts, their spacecraft and lunar samples against possible lunar microorganisms while keeping the samples pristine. On February 6, workers placed the mobile quarantine facility in a vacuum chamber to test its emergency oxygen supply under simulated aircraft pressure loss; three test subjects completed the test successfully, NASA says. [S1]
Source documents
- 55 Years Ago: Five Months Until the Moon Landinghttps://www.nasa.gov/history/55-years-ago-five-months-until-the-moon-landing/