Astronaut who took part in America’s first successful manned space mission, Apollo 7, in 1968
The first Apollo mission, Apollo 1, had ended catastrophically in January 1967 when its three crew members were incinerated during a launchpad rehearsal, and the following missions were unmanned. But by October 1968, while the US was convulsed with anti-Vietnam war and civil rights protests, Apollo 7 was orbiting faultlessly some 187 miles above, and the astronauts were testing modules for the moon landing. However, Apollo 7 was not a happy ship. “The only thing that wasn’t working smoothly was the crew,” observed their fellow astronaut Tom Stafford.