Launched in October 1968, Apollo 7 is credited with the first manned flight; it is the first mission in the Apollo programme to carry a crew into space.
In fact, Apollo 1 was intended to take the first astronauts into space. Unfortunately, its cabin caught fire in one of the test flights, killing the crew. This happened in January 1967. NASA then banned all manned flights until the reason for the fire was found out. Safety measures were improved after the investigations and Apollo 7 was launched after that.
Commanded by Walter M Schirra, Apollo 7 was a complete success which gave NASA enough confidence to launch Apollo 8.
Picture Credit : Google