On this day in space! Oct. 11, 1968: Apollo 7 launches into space, NASA's 1st Apollo astronaut crew in orbit

On.

Oct.

11, 1968, Apollo 7 launched into space with NASA astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham.

This was the first mission of the Apollo program that carried a crew into space.

Apollo 7 rebooted the Apollo program after a fire killed three astronauts during a launch rehearsal 20 months earlier.

NASA needed to prove that their Apollo spacecraft worked with this mission, which was really more of a test flight.

Though the spacecraft seemed to work alright, the crew got a little snippy during their 11 days in space.

First they suffered from motion sickness after launch, then Schirra came down with a cold, and the crew was constantly arguing with mission control and each other.

None of the Apollo 7 astronauts went back to space after that.

NASA's Apollo 7 astronaut crew launches into orbit on Oct.

11, 1968. (Image credit: NASA) Why it mattered Had Apollo 7 not succeeded, the chances of NASA being able to fulfill President John F.

Kennedy's 1961 goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth" would be called into question — not just because the clock was ticking down, but because of increasing political pressure to shut down the expensive moon program.

In the wake of the January 1967 Apollo 1 fire, NASA and North American Aviation, the prime contractor for the Apollo command module, needed to overhaul the spacecraft to make it safe for crews to fly in space.

Apollo 7 provided a "shakedown cruise" for the vehicle, to confirm the fixes worked and that the command module was space worthy.