Apollo 7 was the first mission in the United States’ Apollo program to carry a crew
into space. It was also the first American space flight to carry astronauts into low
Earth orbit after a cabin fire killed the Apollo 1 crew in 1967. Apollo 1, also known
as AS-204, originally was to be the first flight. Instead, Apollo 7 carried out the
mission that Apollo 1 was scheduled to do. The crew was commanded by Walter
M. Schirra, with Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot
R. Walter Cunningham.