The unmanned Apollo craft was sent to an altitude of 11386 miles and then returned to Earth safely in a successful proof of its heat shield, which endured the friction of a high speed descent through the Earth's atmosphere "U.S. Scores 2 Space Triumphs— Saturn 5 Flight Perfect", Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1967, p1 and was picked up near Hawaii by the aircraft carrier USS Bennington Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Project Apollo: The Tough Decisions (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007) p80 The launch was a validation of the "all-up" decision by the director of NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight, George Mueller, to flight test all three stages of the Saturn V rocket at the same time, rather than wasting resources and time by first launching the three stages individually.