Iconic flown television cue card from the historic flight of the Apollo 7 mission, which transmitted the first live television broadcast aboard a crewed American spacecraft on October 14, 1968. The cue card, 8.5 x 5.5, famously reads in black felt tip, “From the Lovely Apollo Room high atop everything,” with the upper left corner featuring a small sketch of two Apollo astronauts enjoying a candlelight dinner in space. The card's upper and lower right corners also appear to feature in-flight ink notations related to the spacecraft’s positioning: “SL 71-39 +00, 71-46 +00” and “R 150, P 055, Y 017.” The card is displayed with two screenshots of the Apollo 7 broadcast, one of which shows CMP Donn Eisele holding the card up to the camera, and an original front page of the Chicago Tribune from October 15, 1968, with the lead article’s headline reading: “Apollo Beams TV Show: Crew Looks Good, Coast Picture Poor.” Archivally framed under Tru Vue conservation glass to an overall size of 16.75 x 25.5. In fine condition.
Accompanied by additional newspaper clippings for the TV broadcast, three modern glossy prints of Eisele holding the offered cue card, and a printed copy of the cue card’s reverse side, which is annotated with a script of eight cue card prompts, with this lot’s card listed fourth: “From the Apollo room – Wally.” Accordingly, the script’s fifth prompt was the next card held up to the camera: “Keep those cards and letters coming in Folks – Mickey Kapp.”
The historic Apollo 7 mission set the gold standard for all future space flights when it launched from Cape Canaveral on October 11, 1968. The mission was marked with a series of successful ‘firsts,’ including the premiere of a three-man crew, the debut launch of a Saturn IB rocket, the first full test of the Command and Service Module (CSM) in orbit, and the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft. Throughout the 11-day mission, there were a total of seven live television broadcasts from the spacecraft, which were later collectively dubbed as The Wally, Walt, and Donn Show. These record-breaking TV transmissions, which provided viewers on Earth with live footage and commentary from the crew, were must-see events for an American public still reeling from the Apollo 1 tragedy.
For the broadcast to happen, the Apollo 7 spacecraft was equipped with an RCA black-and-white slow-scan TV camera. Because the craft remained in Earth’s orbit, television transmissions were limited to the few minutes that they were in range of the MSFN tracking stations at Corpus Christi in Texas and Merritt Island in Florida; these stations were the only ones equipped with early versions of the RCA scan converter, which converted the slow scan TV to U.S. commercial standard television.
With tens of millions watching, the first broadcast aired on October 14, 1968, and allowed viewers their first glimpse inside the cabin of an Earth-orbiting spacecraft. As a way of inserting some creative humor into the event, the astronauts prepared cue cards for the home audience to read. The first cue card to be shown was the offered lot, “From the Lovely Apollo Room high atop everything,” a phrase inspired by tag lines used by band leaders on 1930s radio shows. Before the fifth TV broadcast, CDR Schirra made a prophetic comment that the crew was ‘going to try for an Emmy for the best weekly series.’ Indeed, in 1969, the Apollo 7 crew of Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham, and Donn Eisele received a special Emmy Award for their epic TV transmissions from space.
