Apollo 7 was a test flight and morale booster after the tragedy of Apollo 1. Despite tensions between ground control and the crew, the mission was a success and gave way to NASA's first orbit around the moon two months later with Apollo 8. This was the first crewed spacecraft to transmit a live television broadcast.Apollo 7launched on October 11, 1968. It’s crew was commanded byWalter M. Schirra, with senior pilot /navigatorDonn F. Eisele, and pilot / systems engineerR. Walter Cunningham. It splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on October 22, 1968.