Apollo 7 splashed down safely today after eleven days in orbit. The mission was successful — all major test objectives accomplished, the redesigned command module vindicated.

Schirra had a terrible head cold for most of the mission, and this produced the one genuine incident of the flight: a dispute with Mission Control about wearing helmets during re-entry.

The background: when you have a head cold in space, the normal pressure equalization you’d do on an airplane (swallowing, yawning) doesn’t work properly because of the mucus congestion. If you’re wearing a helmet sealed to the suit during re-entry — which is standard procedure — and you can’t equalize, the pressure changes during descent can be excruciating and potentially injure your eardrums.

Schirra requested that he and his crew be permitted to remove their helmets before re-entry to manage this risk. Mission Control said no — the helmets are required by mission rules. Schirra, who has made it very clear that he is the commander of that spacecraft and that his judgment in the vehicle takes precedence when lives are at risk, essentially told Mission Control they were going to remove the helmets and that was that.

They removed the helmets. Everyone survived re-entry with functional eardrums.

Mission Control was apparently not pleased. This kind of public dispute between the crew and the ground is not how the program likes to operate. Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham reportedly received a chilly reception at debriefings. The conventional wisdom is that none of the Apollo 7 crew will fly again, partly because of this and partly because Schirra had already announced retirement.

I don’t know how to feel about this. Schirra made a judgment call that protected his crew, and the crew came home fine. That seems right. But mission rules exist for reasons and captains who ignore mission rules create precedents that can get people killed in other situations. The balance between individual judgment and institutional procedure is genuinely hard.

What I know is: Apollo 7 worked. The Block II command module is flight-proven. Eleven days. Three men. All objectives met.

The path to the Moon is open.