Eleven days of tests and the first TV broadcast from space

The open-ended, incrementally extended mission was meant to prove the redesigned CSM would hold up and function throughout a full lunar-length flight. The crew rehearsed a rendezvous with the jettisoned S-IVB stage, made the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft, and fired the SPS main engine eight times.

On the very first day Schirra turned the ship around and closed on the discarded S-IVB stage, rehearsing a manoeuvre lunar missions would need for extracting the lunar module. The actual rendezvous followed on day two — as the SPS engine fired, Schirra let out the pop-culture line “Yabba dabba doo!” The crew also enjoyed the first hot meal in an American spacecraft; Schirra had insisted on bringing instant coffee, which NASA doctors considered unnecessary.

On 14 October the crew broadcast the first live television transmission from an American spacecraft — seven minutes showing the interior and views of the southern United States, opened with a card reading “From the lovely Apollo room high atop everything.” About ten more minutes followed daily for the rest of the mission; NASA later received a special Emmy for the telecasts. At the same time tension with Mission Control grew — citing his cold and a packed schedule, Schirra refused to power up the TV camera as early as Houston wanted, and during later tests both he and Eisele openly complained on the air about who had dreamed up the procedures.