Determined to prevent a repetition of the fire, the crew spent long periods monitoring the construction of their Apollo command and service modules (CSM).

Apollo 7 was launched on October 11, 1968, from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean eleven days later.

Despite tension between the crew and ground controllers, the mission was a complete technical success, giving NASA the confidence to send Apollo 8 into orbit around the Moon two months later.

[15] On January 27, 1967, Grissom's crew was conducting a launch-pad test for their planned February 21 mission, when a fire broke out in the cabin, killing all three men.

[23] CAPCOMs, the person in Mission Control responsible for communicating with the spacecraft (then always an astronaut) were Evans, Pogue, Stafford, Swigert, Young and Cernan.

"[25] Eisele noted, "coming on the heels of the fire, we knew the fate and future of the entire manned space program—not to mention our own skins—was riding on the success or failure of Apollo 7.

"[26] Given the circumstances of the fire, the crew initially had little confidence in the staff at North American Aviation's plant at Downey, California, who built the Apollo command modules, and they were determined to follow their craft every step of the way through construction and testing.

[27] According to former astronaut Tom Jones in a 2018 article, Schirra, "with indisputable evidence of the risks his crew would be taking, now had immense leverage with management at NASA and North American, and he used it.

A three-astronaut crew (Joseph P. Kerwin, Vance D. Brand and Joe H. Engle) was inside a CM that was placed in a vacuum chamber at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston for eight days in June 1968 to test spacecraft systems.

Another crew (James Lovell, Stuart Roosa and Charles M. Duke) spent 48 hours at sea aboard a CM lowered into the Gulf of Mexico from a naval vessel in April 1968, to test how systems would respond to seawater.

[28][34] According to Stafford, Schirra "clearly felt the full weight of the program riding on a successful mission and as a result became more openly critical and more sarcastic.

Other changes included replacement of aluminum tubing in the high-pressure oxygen system with stainless steel, replacement of flammable materials with non-flammable (including changing plastic switches for metal ones) and, for crew protection in the event of a fire, an emergency oxygen system to shield them from toxic fumes, as well as firefighting equipment.

[50] The main purposes of the Apollo 7 flight were to show that the Block II CM would be habitable and reliable over the length of time required for a lunar mission, to show that the service propulsion system (SPS, the spacecraft's main engine) and the CM's guidance systems could perform a rendezvous in orbit, and later make a precision reentry and splashdown.

[38][56] The ascent made the 45-year-old Schirra the oldest person to that point to enter space,[57] and, as it proved, the only astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.

[57] Cunningham reported that the hinged SLA panels on the S-IVB had not fully opened, which CAPCOM Tom Stafford likened to the "angry alligator" from his Gemini 9A flight.

[58] After station keeping with the S-IVB for 20 minutes, Schirra let it drift away, putting 76 miles (122 km) between the CSM and it in preparation for the following day's rendezvous attempt.

It began with a view of a card reading "From the Lovely Apollo Room high atop everything", recalling tag lines used by band leaders on 1930s radio broadcasts.

Before the close, Schirra held another sign, "Keep those cards and letters coming in folks", another old-time radio tag line that had been used recently by Dean Martin.

"[28] Daily television broadcasts of about 10 minutes each followed, during which the crew held up more signs and educated their audience about spaceflight; after the return to Earth, they were awarded a special Emmy for the telecasts.

[65] Later on October 14, the craft's onboard radar receiver was able to lock onto a ground-based transmitter, again showing a CSM in lunar orbit could keep contact with a LM returning from the Moon's surface.

[63] Throughout the remainder of the mission, the crew continued to run tests on the CSM, including of the propulsion, navigation, environmental, electrical and thermal control systems.

Evidently the earth people felt differently; there was a real stink about the hotheaded, recalcitrant Apollo 7 crew who wouldn't take orders.

"[71] French and Burgess wrote, "When this point is considered objectively—that in a front-loaded mission the rendezvous, alignment, and engine tests should be done before television shows—it is hard to argue with him [Schirra].

Over several days, Schirra refused advice from the ground that the helmets should be worn, stating it was his prerogative as commander to decide this, though Slayton warned him he would have to answer for it after the flight.

[77] John T. McQuiston wrote in The New York Times after Eisele's death in 1987 that Apollo 7's success brought renewed confidence to NASA's space program.

"[83] Eisele's career may also have been affected by becoming the first active astronaut to divorce, followed by a quick remarriage, and an indifferent performance as backup CMP for Apollo 10.

Kraft, who had been in conflict with the crew during the mission, sent a conciliatory video message of congratulations, saying: "We gave you a hard time once but you certainly survived that and have done extremely well since ...

[92] On November 6, 1968, comedian Bob Hope broadcast one of his variety television specials from NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston to honor the Apollo 7 crew.

Barbara Eden, star of the popular comedy series I Dream of Jeannie, which featured fictional astronauts among its regular characters, appeared with Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham.

[94] The Apollo 7 mission is dramatized in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon episode "We Have Cleared the Tower", with Mark Harmon as Schirra, John Mese as Eisele, Fredric Lehne as Cunningham and Nick Searcy as Slayton.