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[b]Space Cover #507: Apollo 9 at 50[/b] Here's a belated look back at Apollo 9, the earth-orbital shakedown flight of LM-3, the first crewed flight of the Apollo lunar module that flew just over 50 years ago. Above is my favorite Apollo 9 cover, not because it is some rarity (which it is not), but because of a personal connection. It is a pretty-common Spacecraft Cachet, Vukotich #230a, postmarked at Patrick AFB on March 3, 1969, for the launch of Apollo 9. And it has been autographed by someone that most of you won't recognize – one D. M. Corcoran. Donald M. Corcoran was NASA's project engineer for LM-3 "Spider" on Apollo 9. He put in many, many long hours getting LM-3 ready to fly, and it flew almost perfectly for the crew. I had the privilege to work with Don from 1989-1992, after his retirement from NASA. Always a quiet, humble guy, he was almost embarrassed when I asked him to autograph this cover. While working late one night in 1991, he opened-up about his early NASA career, as an engineer for the Mercury-Redstone flights (including the two manned flights). He had some great pictures of a much younger Don in the blockhouse. On another late night in 1992, Don and I ordered some pizza for dinner. It did not sit well with him at all. The next day he went into the hospital. The doctors did exploratory surgery, then sewed him right back up – his cancer was too advanced to remove. Don died several days later. So, my favorite Apollo 9 cover salutes one of the unsung heroes of the mission – Donald M. Corcoran. Do you have some favorite Apollo 9 covers? If so, let's post them here! And as always, I'll be glad to host your cover images if you can't – just email them to me.
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