Space: Testing Toward the Moon

For millions of veteran space-shot watchers, last week's televised launch of Apollo 7 had more than the usual elements of drama. It was the first U.S. manned flight since three astronauts were killed in a fire on the same launch pad 21 months before. Any more serious trouble would all but wipe out U S hopes of landing men on the moon before the end of 1969. Thus, as the towering Saturn IB rocket lifted ponderously off the pad after a heart-stopping moment of hesitation, U.S. hopes rose with it. At week's end,...