Wally Schirra, One of America’s First Astronauts, Dies.
Walter M. “Wally” Schirra Jr., one of America’s original seven astronauts, has died at the age of 84, said NASA.
Schirra, said NASA, died of natural causes.
Chosen from the Navy to become one of NASA’s Mercury astronauts in 1959, Schirra went on to become the first man ever to make three flights in space.
Schirra was a colorful, jovial man, but also a serious pilot. “Levity is appropriate in a dangerous trade,” he once said in a Life magazine profile.
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Absolutely. Thank you.
RIP Wally!
Wally was always “my man,” sitting next to Walter Cronkite in the CBS news room and patiently explaining every detail of the Apollo moon missions.
Curiously, the ABC News bio/obit omitted the most controversial event in Schirra’s life — his repeated disobeying of orders during the Apollo 7 flight, which led NASA to remove him as a candidate for any future space flights.
Still, I believe that Wallly is the only astronaut to have flown the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space ships.
So long, Wally.