On Oct. 11, 1968, three American astronauts launched to Earth orbit aboard Apollo 7. It was the first piloted mission of the spacecraft designed to meet President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to land on the lunar surface.
The year 1967 began with the tragic loss of the Apollo 1 crew, but ended with the successful launch of the first Saturn V rocket. NASA hoped to make it two successes in a row with the first unmanned flight of the lunar module, or LM, the spacecraft designed to land Americans on the Moon before the end of the decade.
A small group of NASA engineers had an idea called, “Lunar Orbit Rendezvous.” A 1961 letter to NASA’s associate administrator proposed separate vehicles, one to land on the lunar surface while another circled the Moon.
Near the end of 1967, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center experienced the roar of a rocket from Launch Complex 39 for the first time. The 363-foot-tall blasted off, shaking the ground and surrounding buildings.
Jan. 27, 2017, marked the 50th anniversary of the loss of the crew of Apollo 1. A ceremony the day before honored Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee and included reflections on the lessons learned from the tragic event.