North American Aviation Apollo Command Module 007A

North American Aviation Apollo Command Module 007A

The Museum of Flight’s Apollo Command Module, spacecraft 007, is a production-line Block I capsule—built for testing and training.  It was originally identical to spacecraft 012, in which astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died in a fire on January 27, 1967.

After impact and acoustic testing the North American Plant in Downey, California, spacecraft 007 was delivered to NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center on April 18, 1966 to be used for water impact and flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico. It contained all recovery systems required during actual flight and the total configuration was that of a flight Command Module.

After the Block I tests were completed, spacecraft 007 was sent back to the manufacturer, which had become North American Rockwell, for modification to Block II configuration. It was designated 007A and returned to Houston for qualification tests on the new unified hatch mandated by the Apollo 1 accident review board and for open water recovery tests.

In 1971, spacecraft 007A was transported to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where it was exposed to cold water and cold air during testing for the forthcoming Skylab program. The Command Module survived these extremes only to end up in an equipment lot of the Houston Department of Public Works, where it remained for 12 years. In 1988, the module was restored for the Museum by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.