Walter Schirra as a Mercury 7 astronaut, in a pressure suit with a model of Mercury capsule behind him. NASA photo (AP Photo )
Some of our hopes and dreams lay closer to reality because of him, may God rest his soul.
Biographical Data
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
NAME: Walter M. Schirra (Captain, USN, Ret.)
NASA Astronaut (former)PERSONAL DATA: Born March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey.
EDUCATION: Newark College of Engineering (N.J.I.T.), 1941; U.S. Naval Academy, 1942-1945 B.S.; Safety Officers School (U.S.C.), 1957; U.S. Navy Test Pilot School (N.A.T.C.) 1958; NASA Astronaut Training, 1959-1969; Honorary Doctorate in Astronautical Engineering, Lafayette College, 1969; Honorary Doctorate in Science, U.S.C., 1969; Honorary Doctorate in Astronautics, N.J.I.T., 1969; Trustee, Detroit Institute of Technology, 1969-1976; Advisor, Colorado State University, 1977-1982; Trustee, National College, South Dakota, 1983-1987.
AWARDS: The Collier Trophy, 1962; Kincheloe Award, SETP, 1963; Haley Astronautics Award - AIAA, 1963, 1969; Harmon International Trophy, 1965.
AWARDS-MILITARY: U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Medal; Distinguished Flying Cross (3); Air Medal (3); NASA Distinguished Service Medal (2); NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1); Philippines Legion of Honor (Commander).
HALLS OF FAME INDUCTED: International Aviation Hall of Fame, San Diego, CA, 1970; New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame, Teterboro, NJ, 1977 (approx.); International Space Hall of Fame, Alamagordo, NM, 1981; National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, OH, 1986.
CLUBS: Society of Experimental Test Pilots (Fellow), 1958- present; AAS (Fellow), 1960-present; Explorers Club (Fellow) 1965-present; Makai Country Club, Kauai (Princeville), Hi, 1971-present; Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club, 1985-present; San Diego Yacht Club, 1987-present; Charlie Russell Riders, Charter Member, 1985-present; Rancheros Visitadores, Member, 1989-present; Desert Caballeros, Member, 1989-present; Durango Mountain Caballeros, Member, 1989-present; Q.E.D., San Diego, Ca, 1989-present; The Golden Eagles, (Naval Aviators), 1989- present.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Captain Schirra was one of the seven Mercury Astronauts named by NASA in April 1959. On October 3, 1962; he piloted the six orbit Sigma 7 Mercury flight; a flight which lasted 9 hours, 15 minutes. The spacecraft attained a velocity of 17,557 miles per hour at an altitude of 175 statue miles and traveled almost 144,000 statute miles before re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. Recovery of the Sigma 7 spacecraft occurred in the Pacific Ocean about 275 miles northeast of Midway Island.
Schirra next served as backup command pilot for the Gemini III Mission and on December 15-16, occupied the Command Pilot seat on the history-making Gemini 6 flight. The highlight of this mission was a successful rendezvous of Gemini 6 with the already orbiting Gemini 7 spacecraft, thus, accomplishing the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable spacecraft and establishing another space first for the United States. Known as a "text book" pilot, Schirra remained in the spacecraft following his Mercury and Gemini flight and is the first Astronaut to be brought aboard recovery ships twice in this manner. With him on Gemini 6, was Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford.
He was the Command Pilot on Apollo VII, the first manned flight test of the three direction United States spacecraft. Apollo VII began on October 11, 1968, with Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham. Schirra participated in, and executed, maneuvers enabling crew members to perform exercises in transposition and docking and orbit rendezvous with the S-IVB stage from the Saturn IB launch vehicle. The mission completed eight successful tests and maneuvering ignitions of the service module propulsion engine, measured the accuracy of performance of all spacecraft systems, and provided the first effective television transmission of on-board crew activities. Apollo VII was placed in an orbit with an apogee of 153.5 nautical miles and a perigee of 122.6 nautical miles.
The 260 hour 4.5 million mile shake down flight was concluded on October 22, with splashdown occurring in the Atlantic some 8 miles from the carrier Essex (only 3/10 of a mile from the originally predicted aiming point). Captain Schirra has logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. He is unique in that he is the only Astronaut to have flown Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.BUSINESS EXPERIENCE: Director, Imperial American (Oil & Gas), 1967, 68, 69; President, Regency Investors (Leasing), 1969-1970; Founder, Environmental Control Co. (ECCO), 1970-1973; Director, J.D. Jewel (Chicken Comp.) 1971, 72, 73; Director, First National Bank, Englewood, Co., 1971-1978; Belgian Consulate for Colorado and New Mexico, 1971-1984; Director, V.P., Chairman, Sernco, 1973-1974; Director, Rocky Mountain Airlines, 1973-1984; Director, Carlsberg Oil & Gas, 1974, 1975; V. P., Johns-Manville Sales Corp., Denver, Co, 1975, 76, 77; Director, Advertising Unlimited, Sleepy Eye, MN, 1978-87; Director, Electromedics, Denver, Co, 1979-1985; President, Prometheus Systems, Inc., 1980-1981; Director, Finalco (Leasing Co.), McLean, Va, 1983-1988; Director, Cherokee Data Systems, Boulder, Co, 1984-1986; Director, Net Air Int., Van Nuys, Ca, 1982-1989; Director, Kimberly-Clark, Neenah, Wi, 1983-1991; Independent Consultant, Schirra Enterprises, 1979-Present; Director, Zero Plus Telecommunications, Inc., Campbell, Ca, 1986-Present.
CIVIC ACTIVITIES: Advisory Committee, Oceans Foundations, San Diego, Ca, 1985-present; Advisory Board/Council, U.S. National Parks (Interior), 1973-1985; Director, Denver Organizing Committee for 1976 Olympics, 1973-1975; Advisor, Flight for Life, Mercy Hospital, Denver, Co, 1978-1986; Trustee, Colorado Outward Bound School (COB), 1970-1974; COB Regional Trustee, 1988-present; Advisory Board, International "Up With People", 1976-present; Founder/Director, Mercury Seven Foundation, 1982-present; Director, San Diego Aerospace Museum, 1984-present; Trustee, Scripps Aquarium, 1985-present; International Council, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, Ca, 1989-present; Sharps Hospital, Foundations Board, San Diego, Ca, 1988- present.
PUBLICATIONS: We Seven, 1960; Schirra's Space, 1988.
DECEMBER 1993
This is the only version available from NASA. Updates must be sought direct from the above named individual.
Biography
Already a thread someplace.
I meet Mr. Cunningham after he gave a speech to our group last year. To say that marine is disappointed in what we have become is an understatement. He says we would have never attempted manned space travel if we tried to start today. This idea that every last ounce of risk has to be squeezed out of a challenge is distasteful to Mr. Cunningham. He thinks we have lost of explorer way. Iraq kind of makes his arguments a little less strong. it’s true a nation begins to recede once it’s will to risk adventure dies. Iraq has re-vitalized our nation because it’s forced us to take the adventurer’s risk.
Looking back, it’s amazing how big the original astronauts were in the public imagination. I can name the original seven and many of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts, but none of the current ones. Wally Schirra, RIP
He was a great hero during the Cold War. If any of you have never seen the movie “ The Right Stuff”, I recommend it.
Godspeed to a great American.
AP  The astronauts of the Apollo 7 crew are shown at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in this Oct. 11, 1968 file photo. From left to right are R. Walter Cunningham, Commander Walter Schirra, Jr., and Donn F. Eisele. Schirra has died, NASA said Thursday, May 3, 2007.
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Walter M. Schirra Jr., one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the first New Jerseyan to travel in space, died Thursday. He was 84. His family said he died of a heart attack at a hospital in La Jolla, Calif., not far from near his home in Rancho Santa Fe. Born in Hackensack and raised in Oradell, the irrepressible Schirra, a former Navy test pilot, was the only man to fly on all of NASA's first three space missions -- Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
On Oct. 3, 1962, he became the fifth American space traveler and the third to orbit Earth when he piloted the Sigma 7 Mercury flight, which encircled the planet six times over 9 hours and 15 minutes. "I'm having a ball up here drifting," he said during that flight. Three years later, Schirra commanded Gemini 6, which rendezvoused with the already orbiting Gemini 7 -- the first rendezvous of two orbiting spacecraft.
And in 1968, Schirra was command pilot on Apollo VII, which paved the way for the first mission to the Moon the following year. Shea Oakley, executive director of the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey in Teterboro -- which inducted Schirra in 1982 -- said Schirra was a "unique character" renowned for his sense of humor.
Oakley noted, however, that Schirra wasn't feeling that humorous during the 4.5 million-mile Apollo VII mission because he and his crew mates, R. Walter Cunningham and Donn Eisele, all suffered from bad colds. "NASA programmed a ton of tests for the astronauts to do, and Schirra stood up to Mission Control and said, Hey, you're making us do too much up here," Oakley said. "They backed down, because Schirra was the commander of the mission, and he was there, and they weren't."
