May 2 2007
From The Space Library
Former U.S. Navy pilot and astronaut Walter M. “Wally” Schirra Jr., one of the astronauts known as the Original Seven, died of a heart attack at the age of 84. Schirra was the only astronaut to participate in all three of the United States’ first human space projects—Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Selected in 1959 as one of the first seven astronauts, Schirra had made his first spaceflight on 3 October 1962, piloting the fifth Mercury mission, in which Mercury orbited Earth six times in 9 hours and 13 minutes. On 15 December 1965, Schirra had flown aboard Gemini 6-A with Thomas P. Stafford II, in a mission that included the first rendezvous of maneuverable spacecraft. Gemini 6-A, carrying Schirra and Stafford, had flown in formation for 5 hours with Gemini 7, which carried astronauts Frank F. Borman II and James A. Lovell Jr. With his fellow Apollo 7 crew members Walter Cunningham and Donn F. Eisele, Schirra had tested the Apollo’s systems during an 11-day flight beginning on 11 October 1968, a test that proved that Apollo was ready to ferry astronauts to the Moon. The Apollo 7 flight, Schirra’s final mission for NASA, had been the first to provide televised images from orbit. Following his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 1969, Schirra had worked with Walter L. Cronkite Jr. as a news commentator for CBS. Schirra was also a founding member and director of the Mercury Seven Foundation. The U.S. military had awarded Schirra the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Air Medals, and the Philippines Legion of Honor. NASA had awarded him two Distinguished Service Medals and its Exceptional Service Medal.
NASA, “Veteran Astronaut Walter Schirra Dies,” news release 07-100, 3 May 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/may/HQ_07100_Schirra_Dies.html (accessed 24 March 2010); Richard Goldstein, “Walter M. Schirra Jr., Astronaut, Dies at 84,” New York Times, 4 May 2007.
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