DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – A four-year long look back at NASA’s historic Apollo flights begins this weekend in Dallas.
The Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field will host the Apollo 7 50th Anniversary Gala Saturday and honor the only living crew member of that flight.
Museum CEO Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones says several Apollo-era and Space Shuttle-era astronauts will be on hand.
“I get so excited when I think about, you know, within the museum walls we’re going to have these great American heroes,” Sutterfield-Jones said.
The museum will be honoring Colonel Walt Cunningham, the only surviving crew member of the Apollo 7 flight.
Cunningham spoke with WBAP’s Eric Bushman ahead of the ceremony and looked back at his flight. He also talked about how the space business has changed significantly in the past 50 years.
“I never would have dreamed that we would have gone 50 years, or actually about 47, 48 years since we’ve last went out to the moon,” Cunningham said. “It’s such a change in pushing the limits.”
The Apollo 7 flight was the first manned Apollo flight to make it to Earth orbit, paving the way for future Apollo flights going to the Moon.
Cunningham recalled one of the more memorable events within the flight which included the first television broadcasts from space.
“It was the first live television from space,” Cunningham recalled. “We got awarded an Emmy for the first live television from space.”
Apollo 7 launched 50 years ago this month. The Apollo 7 Command Module is housed at the Frontiers of Flight Museum.
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