Portrait of the Apollo 9 prime crew in their space suits. From left to right they are: Commander, James A. McDivitt, Command Module pilot, David R. Scott, and Lunar Module pilot, Russell L. Schweickart. The Apollo 9 mission was designed to test the Apollo Command/Service and Lunar Modules in Earth orbit. The purpose was to verify that the Command/Service Module (CSM) could successfully dock with the Lunar Module (LM). The mission was also to test the LM systems in a 'free flying' attitude to ensure that it performed as per specifications.