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Reupload of a previously uploaded film with more improved sound and video.
“Records life and work on the first manned flight of the Apollo series. Apollo 7 was designated to make the essential test of the Apollo spacecraft before the ambitious lunar-orbital mission could be attempted. All systems respond perfectly. The first television from space highlights the film.”
NASA film JSC-498
Public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the United States Apollo space program, and the first manned US space flight after a cabin fire killed the crew of what was to have been the first manned mission, AS-204 (later renamed Apollo 1), during a launch pad test in 1967. It was a C type mission—an 11-day Earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-person US space mission. The crew was commanded by Walter M. Schirra, with Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham.
The mission was the first manned test of the redesigned Block II Apollo Command/Service Module. It flew in Earth orbit so the crew could check life-support, propulsion, and control systems. Despite tension between the crew and ground controllers, the mission was a technical success, which gave NASA the confidence to launch Apollo 8 around the Moon two months later. However, the flight would prove to be the last space flight for all of its three crew members. It was also the final manned launch from what was then known as Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida…
Mission highlights
Apollo 7 was a test flight, and confidence-builder. After the January 1967 Apollo launch pad fire, the Apollo Command Module had been extensively redesigned. Schirra, who would be the only astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, commanded this Earth-orbital shakedown of the Command and Service Modules. Since it was not carrying a Lunar Module and only needed to reach a low earth orbit, Apollo 7 could be launched with the Saturn IB booster rather than the much larger and more powerful Saturn V. Schirra wanted to name the Apollo 7 Command module “Phoenix” (the mythical bird rising from its own ashes) in memory of the late Apollo 1 crew, but NASA management rejected the idea…
The Apollo hardware and all mission operations worked without any significant problems, and the Service Propulsion System (SPS), the all-important engine that would place Apollo into and out of lunar orbit, made eight nearly perfect firings.
Even though Apollo’s larger cabin was more comfortable than Gemini’s, 11 days in orbit took its toll on the astronauts. Tension with Schirra began with the launch decision, when flight managers decided to launch with a less than ideal abort option for the early part of the ascent. Once in orbit, the spacious cabin may have induced some crew motion sickness, which had not been an issue in the earlier, smaller spacecraft. The crew was also unhappy with their food selections. But the worst problem occurred when Schirra developed a severe head cold. As a result, he became irritable with requests from Mission Control and all three astronauts began “talking back” to the Capcom…
Exchanges such as this led to all three Apollo 7 crew members being rejected for future missions. Despite these difficulties, the mission successfully met its objective of verifying manned flight capability of the Apollo Command and Service Modules, allowing the flight of Apollo 8 to the Moon just two months later.
Beyond a shakedown of the spacecraft, goals for the mission included the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft (Gordon Cooper had broadcast slow scan television pictures from Faith 7 in 1963) and testing the mock LM docking maneuver which involved rendezvous with the launch vehicle’s discarded upper stage (referred to by Schirra in the above conversation.)
The splashdown point was 27 deg 32 min N, 64 deg 04 min W, 200 nautical miles (370 km) SSW of Bermuda and 7 nmi (13 km) north of the recovery ship USS Essex.
Apollo 7 was the only manned Apollo launch to take place from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 34. All subsequent Apollo and Skylab missions (including Apollo-Soyuz) were launched from Launch Complex 39 at the nearby Kennedy Space Center, and Launch Complex 34 was retired.
As of 2012, Cunningham is the only surviving member of the crew. Eisele died in 1987 and Schirra in 2007…
