Episode 1 - Apollo 7 Segment 1

Episode Details:  Launch of Apollo 7.

Launch Date:  October 11, 1968

Duration:  11 days.

Audio Segment Start:  -00:00:01:10 Ground Elapsed Time (GET)
Audio Segment End:  00:00:02:00 GET

Objective:  Earth orbital test flight to check out the redesigned Command/Service Module (CSM).

Crew:  Walter M. Schirra Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham

Remarks:  This was the first manned Apollo mission.  And the only mission where the Saturn 1B booster was used.  All other missions used the more powerful Saturn V, but it wasn’t necessary in this case as it was Earth orbital only.  The CSM had been redesigned after the tragic Apollo 1 fire.  The crew transmitted the first live broadcast television aboard an American manned spacecraft.

Mission Details:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo7.html

Mission Transcript:
https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/apollo7.htm

Flight Journal:
https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap07fj/a7_01_launch_ascent.html

Launch Video:

Podcast: