Editing Apollo 7 (section)

==Hardware==

===Spacecraft===

[[File:S68-42513.jpg|thumb|right|CSM-101 pre-launch]]

The Apollo 7 spacecraft included Command and Service Module 101 (CSM-101), the first Block{{spaces}}II CSM to be flown. The Block{{spaces}}II craft had the capability of docking with a LM,{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=172}} though none was flown on Apollo{{spaces}}7. The spacecraft also included the [[launch escape system]] and a spacecraft-lunar module adapter (SLA, numbered as SLA-5), though the latter included no LM and instead provided a mating structure between the SM and the [[S-IVB]]'s Instrument Unit,{{sfn|Press Kit|pp=25–26}}<ref name = "hardware">{{cite web|title=Apollo/Skylab ASTP and Shuttle Orbiter Major End Items|date=March 1978|url=https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6473665/Apollo-Skylab-ASTP-and-Shuttle-Orbiter-Major-End.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6473665/Apollo-Skylab-ASTP-and-Shuttle-Orbiter-Major-End.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=[[NASA]]|page=5}}</ref> with a structural stiffener substituted for the LM.{{sfn|Mission Report|p=A-43}} The launch escape system was jettisoned after S-IVB ignition,{{sfn|Mission Report|p=A-41}} while the SLA was left behind on the spent S-IVB when the CSM separated from it in orbit.{{sfn|Mission Report|p=A-43}}

Following the Apollo 1 fire, the Block{{spaces}}II CSM was extensively redesigned—more than 1,800 changes were recommended, of which 1,300 were implemented for Apollo{{spaces}}7.<ref name = "launch" /> Prominent among these was the new aluminum and [[fiberglass]] outward-opening hatch, which the crew could open in seven seconds from within, and the pad crew in ten seconds from outside. 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.{{sfn|Press Kit|p=29}}

After the [[Gemini 3]] craft was dubbed ''[[Molly Brown]]'' by Grissom, NASA forbade naming spacecraft.{{sfn|Shepard, Slayton, & Barbree 1994|pp=227–228}} Despite this prohibition, Schirra wanted to name his ship "Phoenix," but NASA refused him permission.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=172}} The first CM to be given a call sign other than the mission designation would be that of [[Apollo 9]], which carried a LM that would separate from it and then re-dock, necessitating distinct call signs for the two vehicles.{{sfn|French & Burgess 2007|p=340}}

===Launch vehicle===

[[File:Saturn IB at launch complex 34.jpg|thumb|Apollo 7's Saturn IB, SA-205, at Launch Complex 34]]

Since it flew in [[low Earth orbit]] and did not include a LM, Apollo{{spaces}}7 was launched with the [[Saturn IB]] booster rather than the much larger and more powerful [[Saturn V]].<ref name="Saturn IB history">{{cite magazine |last=Portree |first=David S. F. |date=September 16, 2013 |title=A Forgotten Rocket: The Saturn IB |url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/a-forgotten-rocket-the-saturn-ib/ |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |location=New York  |access-date=October 4, 2013}}</ref> That Saturn IB was designated SA-205,{{sfn|Orloff & Harland 2006|p=172}} and was the fifth Saturn IB to be flown—the earlier ones did not carry crews into space. It differed from its predecessors in that stronger propellant lines to the augmented spark igniter in the J-2 engines had been installed, so as to prevent a repetition of the early shutdown that had occurred on the uncrewed [[Apollo&nbsp;6]] flight; postflight analysis had shown that the propellant lines to the J-2 engines, also used in the Saturn V tested on Apollo{{spaces}}6, had leaked.{{sfn|Press Kit|pp=3, 33}}

The Saturn IB was a two-stage rocket, with the second stage an [[S-IVB]] similar to the third stage of the Saturn V,{{sfn|Press Kit|p=31}} the rocket used by all later Apollo missions.<ref name="Saturn IB history" /> The Saturn IB was used after the close of the Apollo Program to bring crews in Apollo CSMs to [[Skylab]], and for the [[Apollo–Soyuz Test Project]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Ed Kyle|title=Saturn 1B|url=http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/satstg2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010043820/http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/satstg2.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 10, 2010|access-date=October 14, 2020|work=Space Launch Report|date=December 6, 2012}}</ref>

Apollo 7 was the only crewed Apollo mission to launch from [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's]] [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34|Launch Complex 34]]. All subsequent Apollo and Skylab spacecraft flights (including Apollo–Soyuz) were launched from [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Launch Complex 39]] at the nearby Kennedy Space Center.<ref name="Saturn IB history" /> Launch Complex 34 was declared redundant and decommissioned in 1969, making Apollo{{spaces}}7 the last human spaceflight mission to launch from the Cape Air Force Station in the 20th century.<ref name="Saturn IB history" />