Apollo 7 marked the inaugural crewed test flight of the Apollo spacecraft, which launched on October 11, 1968. Astronauts Walter M. Schirra Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham were propelled into Earth orbit by a Saturn 1B booster. The mission's objective was to evaluate the safety and reliability of various spacecraft systems in anticipation of a lunar mission. A number of maneuvers were performed, including a rendezvous with a discarded second-stage booster rocket.
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| Apollo 7 launch cover with a Kennedy Space Center hand cancel dated October 11, 1968, signed by Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham, and Donn Eisele. This cover is from the personal collection of Walt Cunningham. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: Apollo 7 crew members Walt Cunningham, Donn Eisele, and Wally Schirra during a press conference on May 10, 1967. |
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| Apollo 7 cover featuring the official NASA cachet with a Kennedy Space Center machine cancel, signed by Donn Eisele, Walt Cunningham, and Wally Schirra. |
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| Established in 1966 by the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) to support the Apollo Program, the Merritt Island Launch Annex (MILA) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) handled communications during the critical first four minutes after launches. The telemetry system at Cape Canaveral comprised a network of antennas linked to a central station on Merritt Island and several fixed ground stations downrange. These telemetry stations were situated on the Florida mainland, Grand Bahama Island, Antigua, and Ascension Island. |
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| Photo: The Apollo 7 crew, suited up in their spacesuits, posing for photographers on Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy, Florida. |
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| Apollo 7 launch cover from "Orbit Covers," postmarked on October 11, 1968, at Cape Canaveral, signed by Walt Cunningham and in blue ballpoint by Donn Eisele and Wally Schirra. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: U.S. President Johnson and his grandson watching the Apollo 7 launch on television on October 11, 1968. |
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| Photo: Apollo 7 expended Saturn IVB stage. |
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| Apollo 7 launch cover featuring a Houston postmark dated October 11, 1968, signed by Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham. - RRAuction |
The astronauts further honed their navigation skills by aiming their telescope at bright stars and employing their sextant. They recognized various landmarks on Earth to simulate the selection of landing sites on the lunar surface and intercepted signals from a dummy lunar landing craft, replicating communication with the lunar module.
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| Photo: The first live TV broadcast from the Apollo 7 spacecraft. |
Throughout the 260-hour mission, which encompassed 163 orbits, several live telecasts were transmitted from the Apollo spacecraft. These broadcasts offered viewers a tour of the spacecraft, showcased the astronauts at work, and presented their perspective of Earth. Since Apollo 7 was in Earth orbit, television transmissions were restricted to short intervals when the spacecraft was within range of the MSFN tracking stations located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Merritt Island, Florida. These stations were the only ones equipped with early versions of the RCA scan converter, which transformed the slow-scan video into the U.S. commercial standard (525 lines at 30 fps). This was the first successful transmission of live television from an American crewed spacecraft.
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| Apollo 7 "SpaceCraft" cover, postmarked on launch day, October 11, 1968, at PAFB, and signed by Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. |
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| Photo: The Apollo 7 crew captured an image of Hurricane Gladys on the sixth day of their mission in space. |
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| Photo: Jon Eisele gazes at a picture of his father, Donn Eisele, aboard the Apollo 7 spacecraft. |
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| Photo: Donn Eisele, sporting a thick beard, is captured on the ninth day of the mission. |
On October 22, after an 11-day journey, Apollo began its descent. The reentry was automatically managed by the spacecraft's computerized guidance system. The spacecraft splashed down upside down, landing within 0.3 miles (0.5 km) of its target in the Atlantic Ocean. It was quickly righted using inflatable bags, and within an hour of landing, the astronauts were aboard the carrier Essex. Subsequent medical evaluations confirmed that they were in good condition.
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| Photo: A map indicates the splashdown site of Apollo 7, situated 230 miles south-southeast of Bermuda. |
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| The Apollo 7 mission lasted for 10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes, and 3 seconds. |
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| Photo: Crew members on the USS Essex recovery ship standing by for the Apollo 7 splashdown. |
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| Apollo 7 cover from the USS Essex recovery ship, featuring the ship's 25th Anniversary cachet along with a Beck rubber stamp cachet. |
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| Photo: The Apollo 7 crew aboard the USS Essex carrier. |
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| Apollo 7 recovery ship cover from the USS Essex, postmarked October 22, 1968, and signed by Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham, and Donn Eisele. - RRAuction |
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| Photo: Using what seems to be a sword to cut a massive cake, the Apollo 7 astronauts celebrate their return to Earth aboard the U.S.S. Essex. The cake was given to the trio by the crew of the aircraft carrier. From left to right are Walter Schirra, Walter Cunningham, and Donn Eisele. |
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| Cover from the USS Essex crew featuring a Beck rubber-stamped cachet, sent from the ship and postmarked on October 22, 1968. |
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| Photo: The Apollo 7 crew is welcomed by their families at Ellington AFB on October 26, 1968. |
