LBJ Honors Apollo 7 Astronauts (1968)

Duration: 1:00

Year Published: 1968

Sound: sound

Description: This segment for Houston’s KPRC-TV captures a ceremony at the LBJ Ranch celebrating the accomplishments of the US space program. On November 2, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson invited NASA astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham to his Stonewall estate to present them with the Exceptional Service Medal. The trio had recently completed the Apollo 7 mission, the first manned flight of the Apollo program. At the news conference that followed, Johnson reportedly called Apollo 7 “one of the most successful space missions ever undertaken—by this country or any other.” The mission accomplished 56 objectives, including broadcasting the first live television transmission from space.