Editing Openai/67c4e193-e008-8008-8d82-c239519e3d5a (section)

==== Apollo 9 – Earth Orbit Lunar Module Test ====

Mission Data: Apollo 9 (March 1969) was an Earth-orbital mission that tested the Lunar Module (LM) for the first time. It involved a rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit, spacewalks, and internal TV broadcasts. Telemetry from both the Command Module “Gumdrop” and Lunar Module “Spider” was sent to ground stations. Apollo 9 did not have the same public profile as Apollo 8, but it generated many data tapes of engineering and crew data. Like previous missions, Apollo 9’s raw telemetry tapes were sent to the Washington National Records Center (WNRC) for storage after the mission. Decades later, during the 2006–2008 search for Apollo 11’s missing tapes, investigators actually stumbled on a small cache of Apollo 9 tapes – one of the very few Apollo telemetry sets still on the shelf. In 2006, a WNRC staff member discovered a single box containing nine Apollo 9 telemetry reels, which had been misfiled on a back shelfnasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=That%20is%20when%20he%20found,Another%20Dead%20End|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. These tapes were labeled with data from the Canary Island tracking station during Apollo 9 in 1969nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=labeled%20%22NCG,the%20green%20ledger%20books%20to|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. Their presence indicated that most Apollo 9 tapes had been withdrawn like the others, but this box was somehow overlooked and never removed.

Current Status: Apollo 9 is unique in that a handful of its original telemetry tapes are known to exist in a federal archive. Those nine reels (found at WNRC in Suitland, MD) contain Apollo 9 mission data and still physically exist as of the last reportsnasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>nasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=labeled%20%22NCG,the%20green%20ledger%20books%20to|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. However, aside from that box, no other Apollo 9 tapes were found – meaning the majority were likely reused or destroyed. The discovered Apollo 9 reels were identified during the Apollo 11 tape search, but they ultimately turned into a historical footnote; the content was Apollo 9 data, not Apollo 11, so they were not the target for restoration at the timenasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=Although%20they%20contained%20Apollo%209,They%20found%20nothing|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>. It’s unclear if those Apollo 9 tapes have since been transferred to NASA or remained at NARA, but they represent one of the only surviving sets of raw Apollo mission telemetry in original form. There has been no public effort to read or digitize them (Apollo 9’s data is less in demand), so their condition is largely unknown – one reel box was described as “slightly damaged” externallynasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=to%20peer%20into%20the%20back,had%20something%20to%20work%20with|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, but presumably the tape inside could be readable if needed. Apart from these reels, Apollo 9’s mission is documented via other media: the crew’s TV broadcast and photography are preserved, and all voice communications were recorded. The mission control audio tapes for Apollo 9 were stored with the others; while Apollo 9’s audio wasn’t the first priority for digitization, those tapes do exist and could be processed in the future. In summary, Apollo 9 has a few telemetry tapes still in government storagenasa.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=nasa.gov|url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/Apollo_11_TV_Tapes_Report.pdf#:~:text=searchers%20never%20found%20what%20they,Apollo%2011%20moon%20landing%20and|publisher=nasa.gov|access-date=2025-12-06}}</ref>, but they are an outlier – practically all other Apollo 9 telemetry tapes are gone. Anyone researching Apollo 9 can rely on NASA’s post-flight report and the fact that a slice of the raw data (from Canary Island station) could theoretically be recovered from the surviving tapes if ever required.