CD-ROM and Book. October 1968 and the US manned space program was about to be reborn. An entirely new space vehicle awaited its pilots at Pad 34. After 21 months the three-man Apollo space capsule had undergone a transformation. Over 1300 modifications had been made to the spacecraft following the tragic fire which had claimed the lives of the Apollo I crew. Now the three men who had been back-up crew for that ill-fated mission were faced with the task of flying an all-new space vehicle. It was to be the first manned flight of America's lunar spacecraft and it was to be the first manned launch of Wernher von Braun's giant Saturn lB rocket. The prestigious task of commanding the first Apollo mission was given to Captain Walter M Schirra, a veteran of America's Gemini and Mercury programs. Accompanying him were Command Module Pilot, Major Donn Eisele, and physicist-civilian, Walter Cunningham -- both were taking their first ride into space. Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham would be the first men to ride on a Saturn rocket and were then expected to fly the new spacecraft for the full length of a lunar mission. Every single onboard system would have to be tested and studied. Apollo 7 would be the longest first flight of any spacecraft or aircraft in the history of aviation. Incredibly, within nine months of this first manned Apollo mission, two Americans would fly the hardware to the Sea Of Tranquillity.
Robert Godwin is the author and editor of dozens of books about space flight and science fiction. He produced the first ever virtual reality panoramas of the Apollo lunar surface photography and the first multi-camera move of the Apollo 11 Moonwalk. He was the Space Curator at the Canadian Air Space Museum in Toronto and he co-produced the movie 2001: The Science of Futures Past.
Robert Godwin is the author and editor of dozens of books about space flight and science fiction. He produced the first ever virtual reality panoramas of the Apollo lunar surface photography and the first multi-camera move of the Apollo 11 Moonwalk. He was the Space Curator at the Canadian Air Space Museum in Toronto and he co-produced the movie 2001: The Science of Futures Past.
"Likely to appeal to someone who likes to delve deeply into the workings of NASA..." -- Astronomy Now, August 2001.
"An essential read, Apogee should be applauded for producing this material in such an attractive format..." -- Spaceflight, August 2002.