Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. (Mar. 12, 1923 - May 3, 2007)
Published on May 3, 2007 at 4:43 pm.
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Wally Schirra was among the first seven American astronauts selected for Project Mercury. Schirra was a naval aviator, flying combat missions in the Korean War, where he shot down at least one (and possibly two) MIG-15s. After the war, he served as a test pilot and flight instructor. Schirra was selected to become an astronaut on April 2, 1959. He flew the Mercury 8 mission on October 3, 1962, aboard the Sigma 7 capsule. This was the fifth manned Mercury mission, and the third US manned orbital mission. His flight was a textbook mission, with Schirra performing his tasks meticulously in true military fashion.
Wally Schirra again blasted off into space on December 15, 1965, with the Gemini VI-A flight. Originally, Gemini VI-A was to rendezvous with an unmanned Agena Target Vehicle; however, the Agena launch failed. Instead, Gemini VI-A was launched 11 days after the launch of Gemini VII. Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford aboard Gemini VI-A then rendezvoused with Ed White, Jr., and Michael Collins who were in orbit aboard the Gemini VII spacecraft. Gemini VI-A flew to within a few feet of the orbiting Gemini VII capsule, and the two vehicles remained in the vicinity of one another for about five hours. This was an important step in the future Apollo missions to the Moon, as it showed that spacecraft could in fact find one another in orbit.
Schirra flew one more time into space on Apollo 7 on October 11, 1968, along with Don Eisele and Walter Cunningham. Apollo 7 was the first manned test flight of the Apollo capsule. The Apollo 7 crew spent 11 days in orbit on this shakedown flight, testing the capsule and command modules systems and performing several rendezvous tests with the Saturn 1-B upper stage that had put them into orbit.
Wally Schirra logged a total of 4577 hours of flight time, 295 hours of which were in spacecraft. He also performed 267 landings on an aircraft carrier. He retired from the Navy as a captain, and he left NASA in 1969. Schirra was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Philippines Legion of Honor. He was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 2000.
Wally Schirra died today, at age 84, of natural causes in La Jolla, California.
-Astroprof
Images courtesy of NASA and USNA.
