Apollo 7 was a mission in the NASA's Apollo program. It was the first crewed mission in the Apollo program and the first crewed US space flight after Apollo 1 disaster. The mission was a C type mission. Apollo 7 was launched on October 11, 1968 and stayed in space for 10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes and three seconds. It orbited the Earth. Apollo 7 was the first crewed launch of the Saturn IB launch vehicle and the first three-person US space mission. The crew were Commander Walter M. Schirra, with Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham. The mission was designed to test the re-made Block II Apollo Command/Service Module. The crew orbited in Earth orbit so that they could check life-support, propulsion and control systems. The mission was a success. It gave NASA the confidence to launch Apollo 8 later. 