A 224-foot high Saturn IB space vehicle is lifted off at 11:03 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 34 at Cape Kennedy, Fla., Oct. 11, 1968. The space rocket is carrying Apollo 7 astronauts Walter M. Schirra Jr., commander; Donn F. Eisele, command module pilot; and Walter Cunningham, lunar module pilot. The open-ended mission, scheduled to span 11 days, is designed to qualify the three-man Apollo spacecraft system for future voyages planned by NASA.