Apollo 7

The First manned Flight in Apollo Project.

Saturn IVB stage used for Apollo 7 rendezvous

The first manned flight in the Apollo Project. It was launched by a Saturn IB(unlike all subsequent Apollo missions which used the Saturn V), conducted in Earth orbit, and devoted to testing guidance and control systems, spacesuit design, and work routines. During rendezvous and station-keeping operations, the Command and Service Module (CSM) approached to within 21 meters of the spent Saturn IVB stage that had boosted the spacecraft into orbit. A Lunar Module was not flown on this mission. 

The Apollo 7 mission spent more time in space than all the Soviet space flights combined up to that time. 

Commander	Walter Schirra
Lunar Module pilot	Walter Cunningham
Command Module pilot	Donn Eisele
Launch	Oct. 11, 1968; 16:02:45 UT. Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 34
Mission duration	260 hr 9 min. 3 sec. (~10 d 20 hr)
Earth orbits	163
Splashdown	Oct. 22, 1968; 11:11:48 UT (7:11:48 a.m. EDT)
Retrieval site	Atlantic Ocean 27° 32' N, 64° 04' W

Highlights

• First American three-man mission
• First flight of Block II Apollo Spacecraft
• First flight of the Apollo space suits
• First live national TV from space during a manned space flight