144. [Apollo 7] LAUNCH OF THE FIRST MANNED APOLLO MISSION NASA, 11 October 1968 Printed 1968. Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-68-48787]. With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA). 25.4 x 20.3 cm. (10 x 8 in.) Historical context This photograph symbolizes the resumption of manned U.S. space flights 21 months after the Apollo 1 tragedy. Apollo 7 marked Project Apollo's first crewed flight and a major step toward the Moon. The 11-day mission was designed to qualify the three-man Command Module for the demanding half-million-mile round trip to the Moon. On October 11, 1968, at 11:03 a.m. EDT, Apollo 7 launched from Cape Kennedy's Launch Complex 34, atop a 224-foot-tall Saturn IB 205 rocket. Generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust, the launch vehicle propelled the Command and Service Module 101 into Earth orbit (123 by 153 nautical miles), with splashdown planned after 164 orbits in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 200 nautical miles southwest of Bermuda. Tremendous pressure weighed on the crew of Apollo 7. This was the first crewed flight of the Block II Command Module and the first piloted test flight of the Saturn IB rocket, the precursor to the mighty Saturn V Moon rocket. NASA needed a commander who could execute a flawless mission—one that would prove the spacecraft's readiness and validate every critical system. The man for the job: Walter Schirra, a 45-year-old veteran of Mercury and Gemini, renowned for his precision and discipline. Leading the longest first-piloted test flight of any spacecraft to date, Schirra and his crew would orbit Earth for 11 days, mirroring the duration of a lunar mission. Their task: push the Apollo spacecraft to its limits, ensuring it was ready for the journey to the Moon. (Reynolds, p. 72)