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.

"Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis was featured in the 1957 movie
Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The single
was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. It sold one
million copies in its first 10 days of release and became one of the best-
selling records in the United States, as well as one of the world’s best-
selling records of all time.

Original television run on ABC: October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960

The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that starred the
young singer Pat Boone who at 23 was still attending Columbia University in
New York City when the program began production. Boone, the No. 10 all-
time vocalist in sales, was at the time the youngest person to host his own
network variety program until ABC’s The Donny & Marie Show, with two
hosts, broke the record in 1976.

Pat Boone upon graduating from Columbia University in
1958

Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone turned 80 on June 1