| James Alton McDivitt | |
|---|---|
| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Status | Retired |
| Born | June 10, 1929 Chicago, Illinois |
| Other occupation | Business executive |
| Previous occupation | Test pilot |
| Rank | Brigadier General, USAF |
| Time in space | 14d 02h 56m |
| Selection | 1962 NASA Group |
| Missions | Gemini 4, Apollo 9 |
| Mission insignia | |
| Retirement | June, 1972 |
James Alton McDivitt (Brig Gen, USAF Ret.) (born June 10, 1929) is a former NASA astronaut and engineer who flew in the Gemini and Apollo programs. He commanded the Gemini 4 flight in which Edward H. White performed the first US space walk, and later the Apollo 9 flight which was the first manned Earth orbital test of the Apollo Lunar Module. He became Apollo Spacecraft Manager before resigning from NASA and retiring from the Air Force in 1972.
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McDivitt graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Jackson Junior College (now known as Jackson Community College), Jackson, Michigan, and received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan (graduated first in class) in 1959 and an honorary doctorate in astronautical science from the University of Michigan in 1965; honorary doctor of science, Seton Hall University, 1969; honorary doctor of science, Miami University (Ohio), 1970; honorary doctor of laws, Eastern Michigan University, 1975.
McDivitt is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi, the Atlantic Council on Foreign Diplomacy, and the Advisory Council-University of Michigan.
McDivitt was awarded two NASA Distinguished Service Medals; NASA Exceptional Service Medal; two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals; four Distinguished Flying Crosses; five Air Medals; the Chong Moo Medal from South Korea; the USAF Air Force Systems Command Aerospace Primus Award; the Arnold Air Society JFK Trophy; the Sword of Loyola; the Michigan Wolverine Frontiersman Award; and USAF Astronaut Wings.
McDivitt joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and retired with the rank of Brigadier General in 1972. He flew 145 combat missions during the Korean War in F-80s and F-86s.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot course and served as an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
He has logged over 5,000 flight hours, including flying as a chase pilot for Robert M. White's historic X-15 flight on July 17, 1962, in which White reached 59.5 miles (95.8 km) and became the first to be awarded astronaut wings based on the USAF definition of 50 miles (80 km).[1]
McDivitt was selected as an astronaut by NASA in September 1962 as part of Astronaut Group 2. He was chosen as Command Pilot of Gemini 4, becoming the first US astronaut to command his first spaceflight. Only three other Gemini astronauts, from this group, were chosen to command their first flights: Frank Borman (Gemini 7), Neil Armstrong (Gemini 8), and Elliot See. (See was killed in the crash of a T-38 trainer jet three months before his Gemini 9 mission.) After Gemini, only two other rookies commanded their first flights: Gerald Carr (Skylab 4) and Joe Engle (Space Shuttle STS-2).
McDivitt is also the first Roman Catholic to fly into space.[2]
McDivitt was launched with Edward H. White aboard Gemini 4 on June 3, 1965. The mission lasted four days and made 66 orbits, allowing the United States to come close to the early space endurance record of five days set by the Soviet Vostok 5 flight. The first objective was to attempt the first space rendezvous with the spacecraft's spent Titan II launch vehicle's upper stage. This was not successful; McDivitt was unable to get closer than what he estimated to be 200 feet (61 m). Several factors worked against him. There were depth-perception problems (his and White's visual estimates of the distance differed, variously longer or shorter than each other at different times). The orbital mechanics of rendezvous were not yet well understood by NASA engineers. Also, the stage was venting its remaining propellant, which kept pushing it around in different directions relative to the spacecraft.[3]
McDivitt finally broke off the rendezvous attempt in order to save fuel and preserve the second, more important objective, which was for White to perform the first United States "space walk". McDivitt controlled the capsule's attitude and photographed White during the "walk".
On the second day, over Hawaii, while White was asleep, McDivitt happened to see an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). He reported seeing an object which he described as looking "like a beer can or a pop can, and with a little thing like maybe like a pencil or something sticking out of it." He got a camera and took a few photographs of it, but did not have time to properly set exposure or focus properly. He believes that since it was visible to him, it must have been in an orbit close to that of his spacecraft, probably a piece of ice or Mylar insulation having broken off of it.[3]
Word of the "UFO photos" reached the press by the time the flight splashed down, and one eager reporter waited for the Gemini 4 photos to be processed. He found one with a cluster of three or four images that looked like disc-shaped objects with tails, which became known as the "tadpole" photo. McDivitt has identified these as reflections of bolts in the multipaned windows.[3]
Gordon Cooper wrote in his memoirs that as far as he knows, it is the only officially reported account of a UFO in any of the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo missions.
In April 1966, McDivitt, along with Astronaut Group 3 astronauts David Scott and Russell Schweickart were named as members of the backup crew for Gus Grissom's first manned Apollo mission Apollo 1, flying only the Apollo Command/Service Module in Earth orbit. In December, they were replaced as backups with the crew of a cancelled second mission and were promoted to prime crew of a new second mission flying both the Command/Service Module and the Lunar Module. They were training for this mission when tragedy struck on January 27, 1967: A cabin fire killed Grissom's crew and brought a 22-month suspension of manned Apollo flights.
After the Apollo 1 fire, plans resumed for McDivitt's crew to fly the Lunar Module mission, which would have been Apollo 8 in December 1968. But the Lunar Module wasn't ready in time, so NASA decided to make Apollo 8 a circumlunar flight of the Command/Service Module, flown by Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. McDivitt's 10-day Earth orbital LM test became Apollo 9, launched on March 3, 1969.
After Apollo 9, McDivitt became Manager of Lunar Landing Operations in May 1969, and led a team that planned the lunar exploration program and redesigned the spacecraft to accomplish this task. In August 1969, he became Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program and was the program manager for Apollo 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. He would have been slated to fly to the Moon as Lunar Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 flight, but a fall-out with Shepard (who was the number two astronaut after Deke Slayton), as well as an attempt to ground Gene Cernan, the backup Apollo 14 commander and later the Apollo 17 commander, led to his resignation as Apollo Program Manager.[4]
He retired from the USAF and left NASA in June 1972, to take the position of Executive Vice-President, Corporate Affairs for Consumers Power Company. In March 1975, he joined Pullman, Inc. as Executive Vice-President and a Director. In October 1975 he became President of the Pullman Standard Division, The Railcar Division, and later had additional responsibility for the leasing and engineering and construction areas of the company. In January 1981 he joined Rockwell International where was the Senior Vice President, Government Operations, Washington, D.C. He retired in 1995.
Source:A NASA biography page
In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon McDivitt was played by Conor O'Farrell.
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