James Alton McDivitt Jr. (June 10, 1929 – October 13, 2022) was an American test pilot, United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs. He joined the USAF in 1951 and flew 145 combat missions in the Korean War. In 1959, after graduating first in his class with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan through the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) program, he qualified as a test pilot at the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School (Class 59C) and Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class I), and joined the Manned Spacecraft Operations Branch. By September 1962, McDivitt had logged over 2,500 flight hours, of which more than 2,000 hours were in jet aircraft. This included flying as a chase pilot for Robert M. White's North American X-15 flight on July 17, 1962, in which White reached an altitude of 59.5 miles (95.8 km) and became the first X-15 pilot to be awarded Astronaut Wings.
In 1962, McDivitt was selected as an astronaut by NASA as part of Astronaut Group 2. He commanded the Gemini 4 mission, during which Ed White performed the first U.S. spacewalk, and later the Apollo 9 flight, which was the first crewed flight test of the Apollo lunar module and the complete set of Apollo flight hardware. He later became the manager of lunar landing operations and was the Apollo spacecraft program manager from 1969 to 1972. In June 1972 he left NASA and retired from the USAF with the rank of brigadier general.
James Alton McDivitt Jr. (June 10, 1929 – October 13, 2022) was an American test pilot, United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, aeronautical engineer, and...
flights at altitudes exceeding 100 kilometers (54 nmi)). Astronauts JamesMcDivitt and Ed White circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the...
backpack outside the LM cabin. The three-man crew consisted of Commander JamesMcDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart...
March 21, 1966, with the backup crew consisting of Gemini veterans JamesMcDivitt and David Scott, with rookie Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart. Mercury/Gemini...
Interrupt This Broadcast", and appears in episode 11. Conor O'Farrell as JamesMcDivitt, commander of Gemini 4 in episode 1, and commander of Apollo 9 in episode...
that extensively tested the Apollo spacecraft, along with Commander JamesMcDivitt and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart. After backing up Apollo 12...
ground test accident. His fellow crewmen were backup Command Pilot JamesMcDivitt and Senior Pilot David Scott, both veterans of Project Gemini. In December...
astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, JamesMcDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White, and John Young. The Next Nine were...
projects Mercury and Gemini. Slayton created the support crews because JamesMcDivitt, who would command Apollo 9, believed that, with preparation going on...
with Chaffee, and NASA announced the crew selection on March 21, 1966. JamesMcDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as the backup crew....
projects Mercury and Gemini. Slayton created the support crews because JamesMcDivitt, who would command Apollo 9, believed that, with preparation going on...
American science fiction author JamesMcDivitt (born 1929), American astronaut, and Apollo Program Manager, 1969-1972 John W. McDevitt (1906-1994), Eleventh...
school principal, in "The Slumber Caper" (season two). Brigadier General JamesMcDivitt (NASA astronaut) signs autographs for Peter and Bobby after appearing...
February 14, 2008. Retrieved February 27, 2008. Brooks, Courtney G.; Grimwood, James M.; Swenson, Loyd S. (1979). "Tragedy and Recovery". Chariots for Apollo:...
Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-7607-0196-6. (James E. McDonald via Carl Sagan.) McDonald, James (27 December 1969). Science in Default: Twenty-Two...
Sinclair, Australian politician E. O. Wilson, American biologist (d. 2021) JamesMcDivitt, American astronaut (d. 2022) June 12 – Anne Frank, German-born diarist...
to Earth. Slayton asked JamesMcDivitt, the designated commander of the second mission, if he still wanted to fly it. McDivitt turned it down; his crew...
develop systems to monitor astronauts’ vital signs. 1965: Astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White wear Spacelabs' telemetry systems to monitor their temperature...
degree-holders: Gemini IV by JamesMcDivitt and Ed White in 1965 and Apollo 15 by Alfred Worden, David Scott (honorary degree) and James Irwin in 1971. The Apollo...
mission, a test of the LM in a low Earth orbit in December 1968 by JamesMcDivitt, David Scott, and Russell Schweickart, while Borman's crew would fly...
– Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (d. 2012) 1929 – JamesMcDivitt, American general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2022) 1929 – Ian Sinclair...
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