Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. It was an eleven-day earth-orbital mission, the first manned launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and the first three-man American space mission. Goals for the mission included the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver. First orbit: Perigee 231 km, Apogee 297 km, Period 89.78 m, Inclination 31.63 deg. Weight: C/SM 14,781 kg. The splashdown point was 27 deg 32 min N, 64 deg 04 min W, 200 nautical miles SSW of Bermuda and 13 km (8 mi) north of the recovery ship USS Essex.
For nearly 30 years the Apollo 7 module was on loan (renewable every two years) to the National Museum of Science and Technology of Canada, in Ottawa, along with the space suit worn by Wally Schirra. In November 2003 the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. said it wanted them back, presumably to put into the new Smithsonian annex at Dulles International.
