James A. “Jim” McDivitt joined the Air Force as an Aviation Cadet shortly after the start of the Korean War.
After graduating from pilot training, he went to Korea, where he flew 145 combat missions in F-80s and F-86s.
After serving in a few fighter squadrons in the U.S., he applied for school and was sent to the University of Michigan.
After graduation, he went to the Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, CA. He was then selected in the second group of astronauts.
In 10 years with NASA, he flew two space flights and managed the Apollo Spacecraft program for most lunar landings.
After 22 years in the USAF, he retired and embarked on a business career that included an electric and gas company, a railcar builder, and a worldwide engineering and construction company.
He finally joined Rockwell International, where he held various senior positions.
He retired permanently in 1996.
James McDivitt (1929–2022), NASA astronaut who led the first U.S. spacewalk mission
USAF, NASA, and beyond
McDivitt enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, flying combat missions in the Korean War. He remained in the military after the war, serving as a flight commander and a test pilot. McDivitt joined NASA in 1962 as they were looking to expand their group of astronauts. His first mission came in 1965 as command pilot of Gemini 4. As a spaceflight rookie, he was the first NASA astronaut to command a mission. On Gemini 4, astronaut Ed White performed the first NASA spacewalk. While orbiting the Earth, McDivitt saw and photographed an unidentified flying object, which he said looked like a beverage can with a pencil sticking out of it. The UFO was never conclusively identified, but McDivitt later said he thought it reflected a bolt in the ship’s multipaned window. It was the only UFO sighting account in NASA history.
The following year, McDivitt was chosen as commander of the backup crew for Apollo 1, but that mission never flew after a disastrous test killed its crew. Backup plans were canceled, and McDivitt was assigned to command Apollo 9. The 1969 mission involved essential preparations for the Apollo 11 Moon landing four months later. On Apollo 9, McDivitt and astronaut Rusty Schweickart transferred from the command module to the lunar module, the first time astronauts had moved from one spacecraft to another.
Later, McDivitt became the Apollo Spacecraft Program manager before retiring from NASA in 1972. He then had senior positions with Pullman, Inc. and Rockwell International. In 1974, he appeared as himself on an episode of “The Brady Bunch,” talking about his UFO sighting.
Notable quote
“The story of how I became a UFO expert! Well, what happened was that we were low on fuel, and the spacecraft was tumbling through space, end over end, sideways, and all over. Ed was asleep. We were taking turns sleeping. And Ed was asleep, and I was doing something in the spacecraft. I looked outside, just glanced up, and something was out there. It had a geometrical shape similar to a beer or pop can and a little thing like a pencil or something sticking out. That relative size, dimensionally. It was all white.” —from a 1999 oral history interview for NASA.
