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Apollo VII Flight Details
The First Manned Apollo Mission
 

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Apollo-7

Pad 34 
Saturn-1B AS-205 
CSM-101 
1st Block II CSM
1st Manned CSM mission
1st 3 man American crew
1st Live TV downlink

Apollo 7 Crew
Apollo 7 Crew
Left to right
Donn Eisele,
Command Module Pilot
Walter Schirra, Jr.,
Commander
Walter Cunningham,
Lunar Module Pilot

Crew:

Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Commander
Donn F. Eisele, CSM Pilot
R. Walter Cunningham, Lunar Module Pilot

Backup Crew:

Thomas Stafford, Commander
John Young, CSM Pilot
Eugene Cernan, Lunar module pilot

Milestones:

03/28/68 - S-1B Stage ondock at KSC
04/07/68 - S-IVB ondock at KSC
04/11/68 - S-IU ondock at KSC
05/11/68 - Launch Vehicle at Pad
08/09/68 - Spacecraft at Pad
09/17/68 - Countdown Demonstration Test
10/11/68 - Launch

Payload:
CSM-101

 
Mission Objective:
The primary objectives for the Apollo 7 engineering test flight were simple: "Demonstrate CSM/crew performance; demonstrate crew/space vehicle/mission support facilities performance during a manned CSM mission; demonstrate CSM rendezvous capability."
 
Launch:
October 11, 1968, 11:02:45am EST. October 11 at Cape Kennedy was hot but the heat was tempered by a pleasant breeze when Apollo 7 lifted off in a two-tongued blaze of orange-colored flame. The Saturn IB, in its first trial with men aboard, provided a perfect launch and its first stage dropped off 2 minutes 25 seconds later. The S-IVB second stage took over, giving astronauts their first ride atop a load of liquid hydrogen, and at 5 minutes 54 seconds into the mission, Walter Schirra, the commander, reported, "She is riding like a dream." About five minutes later an elliptical orbit had been achieved, 140 by 183 miles above the Earth.

Orbit:

Altitude: 140 x 183 miles
Orbits: 163
Duration: 10 Days, 20 hours 

Landing:
The CSM's service propulsion system, which had to fire the CSM into and out of lunar orbit, worked perfectly during eight burns lasting from half a second to 67.6 seconds.

Apollo's flotation bags had their first try-out when the spacecraft, a "lousy boat," splashed down in the Atlantic southeast of Bermuda, less than two kilometers from the planned impact point. Landing location was 27deg 32min North and 64deg 04min West. The module turned upside down; when inflated, the brightly colored bags flipped it aright. The tired, but happy, voyagers were picked up by helicopter and deposited on the deck of the U.S.S. Essex by 08:20am EDT. Spacecraft aboard ship at 09:03am.