Wally Schirra dead at age 84

Muad Dib · May 5, 2007

Astronaut Wally Schirra, fifth American in space, dies at 84
POSTED: 2:05 a.m. EDT, May 4, 2007
Story Highlights
• Astronaut Wally Schirra was the fifth American in space and third to orbit Earth
• Schirra, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, dies in California at 84
• Schirra was only astronaut to fly on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions

(CNN) -- Wally Schirra, one of the original astronauts in the Mercury 7 project, died Thursday at age 84, NASA officials said.

Schirra died in California, the officials said. He was the fifth American in space and the third to orbit Earth.

He was the only astronaut who flew in three of the nation's pioneering space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

NASA selected Schirra as one of the first group of astronauts, along with Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and Deke Slayton. (Space pioneer history)

He flew on the fifth Project Mercury flight, orbiting the Earth six times on October 3, 1962, and was commander of the Gemini 6 flight, which launched December 15, 1965. (Watch why Schirra had "the right stuff" -- but hated the movie )

Schirra was commander of Apollo 7, the first manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn 1B rocket. He and crew mates Walter Cunningham and Donn Eisele successfully checked all the Apollo systems during the 11-day mission that launched October 11, 1968.

The Apollo 7 mission qualified the spacecraft for later moon missions. Schirra retired from the Navy and NASA in 1969.

He co-authored "The Real Space Cowboys" with Ed Buckbee, a former NASA public affairs officer and the first executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

The book highlights the Mercury astronauts and their contribution to the U.S. space program.

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Another one of the good ones is gone. RIP Wally.

Forbin · May 5, 2007

Only two of the original 7 left, yes?

Onr thing this makes me realize is how young the space program actually is. We may be all impatient for the Star Trek stuff to get here, and complain that we havent made progress toward sending starships out into the void, but then I realize that some of the very first generation of space pioneers is still alive!

Marso · May 5, 2007

Asyncritus · May 5, 2007

There are fewer and fewer of us left alive who remember watching when the guys with "The Right Stuff" were doing something that made us all proud to be Americans.

Hats off to him. The space program was one of the few bright spots of the 60s. (Along with Star Trek, of course...)

Techman · May 5, 2007

Muad Dib · May 5, 2007

Wally Schirra

Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury, America's first effort to put men in space. He was the only man to fly in all of America's first three space programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo). He logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space.

Biography

The family name Schirra is originally from the Valle Onsernone, in Canton Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.

Schirra was born into an aviation family in Hackensack, New Jersey. Schirra's father, Walter M. Schirra, Sr., went to Canada during World War I and earned his pilot rating. He later became a barnstormer. Schirra's mother, Florence Leach Schirra, went along on her husband's barnstorming tours and performed wing walking stunts. By the time he was 15, Wally was flying his father's airplane. Schirra was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of First Class in Troop 36 in Oradell, New Jersey.

Schirra graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey and attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1941, where he was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity. He attended the US Naval Academy and graduated in 1945. He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, serving the final months of World War II aboard the battle cruiser USS Alaska. After the war ended, he trained as a pilot at NAS Pensacola and joined a carrier fighter squadron. He became only the second naval aviator to log 1,000 hours in jet aircraft.

Upon the outbreak of the Korean War, Schirra was dispatched to South Korea as an exchange pilot on loan to the US Air Force. He served as a flight leader with the 136th Bomb Wing, and then as operations officer with the 154th Fighter Bomber Squadron. He flew 90 combat missions between 1951 and 1952, mostly in F-84s. Schirra was credited with downing one MiG-15 and damaging two others. Schirra received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster for his service in Korea.

After his tour in Korea, Schirra served as a test pilot. At China Lake he tested weapons systems such as the Sidewinder missile and the F7U-3 Cutlass jet fighter. After spending time as a flight instructor and carrier based aviator, he later returned to his test pilot duties and helped evaluate the F-4 fighter for naval service.

On April 2, 1959, Schirra was chosen as one of the original seven American astronauts. He entered Project Mercury and was assigned the specialty area involving life support systems.

On October 3, 1962, Schirra became the fifth American in space, piloting the Mercury 8 (Sigma 7) on a six-orbit mission lasting 9 hours, 13 minutes, and 11 seconds. The capsule attained a velocity of 17,557 miles per hour and an altitude of 175 statute miles, and landed within four miles of the main Pacific Ocean recovery ship.

On December 15, 1965, Schirra flew into space a second time in Gemini 6A with Tom Stafford, rendezvousing with astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell, Jr. in Gemini 7. This was the first rendezvous of two manned spacecraft in earth orbit. The two vehicles, however, were not capable of actually docking. Gemini 6 landed in the Atlantic Ocean the next day, while Gemini 7 continued on to a record-setting 14-day mission.

On October 11, 1968, Schirra became the first man to fly in space three times on his final flight as commander of Apollo 7, the first manned flight in the Apollo program, which occurred after a fatal fire during tests of Apollo 1. The three-man crew, including Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham, spent eleven days in earth orbit, performed rendezvous exercises with the upper stage of the Saturn 1-B launch vehicle that rocketed them into space and provided the first live television pictures from inside a U.S. manned spacecraft (other than an experimental broadcast during the flight of Gordon Cooper) for which he received an Emmy.

During the Apollo 7 mission, Schirra caught what was perhaps the most famous cold in NASA history.[1] He took Actifed to relieve his symptoms upon the advice of the flight surgeon.[citation needed] Years later, he became a spokesman for Actifed and would appear in television commercials advertising the product.

During later Apollo missions he served as a news consultant, often being interviewed by Walter Cronkite on CBS News.

Schirra's logbooks show a total of 4,577 hours flight time (295 in space) and 267 carrier landings.

He died on May 3, 2007 of a heart attack at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, California[2]. Schirra was 84 years old.

WIKI
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Bulldog · May 5, 2007

Wally didn't get much screen time in "The Right Stuff" though.

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Wally Schirra dead at age 84

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

Marso High speed, low drag.

Asyncritus Expert on everything

Techman Still smilin' Deceased Member

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

Bulldog Only Pawn in Game of Life

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Wally Schirra dead at age 84

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

Forbin Do you feel fluffy, punk?

Marso High speed, low drag.

Asyncritus Expert on everything

Techman Still smilin' Deceased Member

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

Bulldog Only Pawn in Game of Life

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