Page 14 - The Appollo Story

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Apollo 7 (AS-205) Return To Space
After nearly twenty months of unmanned test launches, NASA eventually got their next manned mission
underway. Apollo 7 blasted-off on 11 October 1968, which was the only manned Apollo mission
launched on a Saturn 1 B rocket and from Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral. In command was one
of NASA's most experienced astronauts, Wally Schirra. With him were newcomers Walter Cunning-
ham, the LM pilot and Don Eisele, the CSM pilot.

The insignia for the flight showed a Command and Service module with its SPS engine firing, the trail
from that fire encircling a globe and extending past the edges of the patch symbolizing the Earth-orbital
nature of the mission. The Roman numeral VII appears in the South Pacific Ocean and the crew's names
appear on a wide black arc at the bottom. The patch was designed by Allen Stevens of Rockwell Interna-
tional. Below is a launch cover postmarked Cape Canaveral signed by all three astronauts.

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CAPTAIN WALTER M. SCHIRAA JR. I

WALTER
CUNNINGHAM