Heroes

 When i think of American heroes, this is something like the image that comes to mind. How brave do you have to be to sit atop thousands of pounds of explosive LOX and Hydrogen and wait for someone to light it off so that you can be blasted into an environment that, outside of your little spacecraft, would kill you in a heartbeat?
On Oct. 22, 1968, the Apollo 7 crew is welcomed aboard the USS Essex, the prime recovery ship for the mission. This was the first Apollo splashdown and, therefore, the first three person 'landing' for NASA.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2086.html