Apollo+40: Welcome Home 7!

Today at 7:11 PM, Apollo 7 with astronauts Wally Schirra, Don Eisele, and Walt Cunningham splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by the USS Essex. Apollo 7, while ground controllers had to deal with a somewhat cantankerous flight crew, was successful in all respects, fully put the Apollo spacecraft through its paces during the 11 flight days, and got the Apollo Program off to a fine flying start.

Commander Wally Schirra, with the success of this flight, was the only American astronaut to fly in all three of our Nation's first space programs: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. He retired as an active astronaut after Apollo 7. His crewmates Eisele and Cunningham, somewhat black-listed by the crew's in-flight antics, also never flew in space again.

Regardless, the success of Apollo 7 started the end game of America's journey to the Moon. For Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham, it was also a finest hour!