October 15, 1968 - First Live Telecast from Space

The Apollo 7 was the seventh space mission that NASA launched, attempting to reach their goal publicly announced by John F. Kennedy: to have the first man on the moon be an American. There was a competition between arguably the two most technological dominant nations at the time, being Russia (Soviet Union) and America. When Kennedy was president, one of his primary goals for the country was to make advancements in space (1961). Russia had beaten the U.S with the first man in space, in 1961. (“Apollo 7 (AS-205).”) The Soviet Union also got the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, in 1957. The Apollo 7 was the first mission set to broadcast live to the audience in America. The mission launched October 11, 1968

Americans were very interested in the Apollo 7 mission for a few reasons. First of all. the fire that killed the three pilots on the Apollo 1 before it made it to space gained tons of public attention. Secondly, the patriotic Americans wanted to see their country beat Russia in the “man to the moon” race. And thirdly, Americans wanted to see if space was really what they heard it was. In 1968, they rarely saw pictures or videos like we would see nowadays, they had only heard rumors of space, with zero gravity and being extremely cold as well as never seeing it firsthand until this mission. It was essentially an “unknown” for all humans, if you never studied space or worked for NASA.

America’s launching of the Apollo 7 was the first ever three man mission to space. The three Americans were Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham, and Walter Schirra Jr., the captain. When they launched on October 11th, 1968 there were a few planned broadcasts but they were delayed by Schirra, because the three man crew was sick. (“Apollo 7 (AS-205).”) The crew ended up orbiting the Earth 163 times in just 10 days, 20 hours, and four days into the mission they decided to make their broadcast, with all of America waiting. On October 15th, 1968, the first ever live television broadcast from space aired, and American viewers were intrigued. For the first time, viewers saw the men floating in their spacecraft with no gravity affecting their movements; they were enjoying hot food, too. Captain Schirra started the broadcast with “Hello from the lovely Apollo Room high atop everything.”(“Apollo 7 (23) The Walt, Wally, and Don Show.”) It ended up being one of the highest watched programs in television history. Despite the incredible amount of popularity, only NASA knew that the Apollo 7 was just a test run for the Apollo 8, for the first craft to land on the moon.

The event was actually more significant for the future than the current time. It led to an opening for live broadcasts to be made from space on every manned mission, and even non-manned missions. It gave NASA and America some confidence in advancing the space race; just two months later the Apollo 8 landed on the moon, before the Russians, where another live broadcast was made. It then led to the Apollo 11 where the first man walked on the moon, which was also broadcasted for the world to see. In our opinion, the Apollo 7 was significant in establishing what was to come of space exploration for the rest of the 1960s and gave all Americans a first-hand look at what was really out there beyond what they had heard.

- Ryan R. and Percell D.





“Apollo 7 (AS-205).” Airandspace.si.edu, last modified January 30, 2006. http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/as07/a07.htm


“Apollo 7 (23) The Walt, Wally, and Don Show.” NASA.gov, last modified April 5, 2002. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-7/apollo-7.htm