Created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1968, this color film, “The Flight of Apollo 7,” touts the preparation and ultimate success of Apollo 7 — which on October 11, 1968, became the first mission in the United States’ Apollo program to carry a crew into space. The Apollo 7 crew was commanded by Walter M. Schirra aka Wally Schirra, with senior pilot/navigator Donn F. Eisele and pilot/systems engineer R. Walter Cunningham. Apollo 7 was the first three-person American space mission, and the first to include a live TV broadcast from an American spacecraft. Apollo 7 fulfilled Apollo 1’s mission of testing the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) in low Earth orbit. That test was severely delayed when the crew of Apollo 1 — Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger Chaffee — were killed in a 1967 cabin fire. The film features footage of the Apollo 7 crew boarding their spacecraft before finally launching their Saturn 1B rocket at mark 02:00. By mark 03:43, the viewer is treated to views of Earth from space as the astronauts conduct a series of tests on the spacecraft, including the ability to control the craft and successfully maneuver it. At mark 06:20, we see footage from inside Apollo 7 as further equipment and systems are tested by the crew. At mark 09:10, the viewer is reminded of how Schirra developed a severe head cold. He famously became irritable with requests from Mission Control and all three astronauts (all of whom developed colds) began “talking back” to the CAPCOM. But the mission also enable those on Earth to see images such as hurricane and the coast of Chile as seen from space. By the time they splashed down on October 22 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean, the narrator tells us that Mission Control considered the Apollo 7 mission to be “101-percent successful.”

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com