Mar 30

Space Rocket History #155 – Apollo 7 – Assembly, Testing, Training, and Launch

Posted on March 30, 2016

Command Service Module-101 started through the manufacturing cycle early in 1966. By July, it had been formed, wired, fitted with subsystems, and made ready for testing. After the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, changes had to be made, mainly in the wiring, hatch areas, and the forward egress tunnel. It was December before the spacecraft came back into testing. CSM-101 passed through a three-phase customer acceptance review; during the third session, held in Downey on May 7th 1968, no items showed up that might be a “constraint to launch.” North American cleared up what few deficiencies there were (13) and shipped the craft to Kennedy on May 30th 1967…

3-Apollo 7 Launch

2-Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham (left to right) practice climbing out of the spacecraft into a life raft, to perfect recovery procedures

1-Saturn 205’s first stage rests on the pedestal at Launch Complex 34 before mating with other stages for launch

Tagged:Apollo 1, Apollo 4, Apollo 5, Apollo 6, Apollo 7, Apollo Stack, Chysler, Commandservice Module, Csm, Csm 101, Donn Eisele, Douglas, Douglas Aircraft, Downey, Florida, Gemini, Gene Kranz, Gerald Griffin, Glynn Lunney, Griffith Planetarium, Grumman, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Houston, Huntsville, J 2, Jim Webb, John Hodge, John Young, Lm, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mercury, Michoud, Mississippi Test, Morehead Planetarium, North American Rockwell, S Ib, S Ii, S Ivb, Satuen Ib, Saturn V, T 38, Wally Schirra, Walter Cunningham, Wernher Von Braun