 Manned Apollo flights were suspended for 20 months while the Command Module 's hazards were addressed . However , the development and unmanned testing of the Lunar Module ( LM ) and Saturn V Moon rocket continued . The Saturn IB launch vehicle for Apollo 1 , AS @-@ 204 , was used for the first LM test flight , Apollo 5 . The first successful manned Apollo mission was flown by Apollo 1 's backup crew on Apollo 7 in October 1968 . 
