Apollo 7: 50 years ago

One of the rare hiccups of the mission occurred shortly after takeoff, when Schirra developed the symptoms of a cold. "Well, if you listen to strangers or even some ground controllers … today, they probably still think we all got sick. But this is not the case. In fact, it's Wally who has fallen ill, "says Cunningham. "But Wally did not want the world to think he was weak and had a cold and we did not do it. He insisted that we take all the cold medicine.

Regarding the effect on the mission, "it's a bit tied up. It was not as effective the first few days, but it came back after that, "Cunningham said. "He was the most experienced – the only experienced – in the cockpit, and we were very successful in achieving the mission's goals. But the consequences were that Wally irritated the controllers on the ground to a certain extent. "

A first successful flight

The crew of Apollo 7 spent more time in space than the initial landings on the Moon would have finally required. They took with them a complete list of objectives to complete, and their success was such that Mission Control added several additional tasks to maximize the benefits of the mission during the flight.

"In the end, it was declared 101% successful," says Cunningham. "And historically, if you think about it, it is still today, 50 years later, the first longest, most ambitious and most successful test flight ever created for a year. new flying machine. "