It was October 11 in the year 1968, when Schirra launched as commander of Apollo 7, alongside his comrades, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. On September 29, 1966, Schirra was assigned to the second manned Apollo flight, but after the tragic Apollo 1 fire that occurred on the pad in January, Schirra was reassigned to the prime crew for the first crewed Apollo mission. The flight lasted a total of 25 hours 51 minutes and 24 seconds, and the crew of flight Gemini 6A completed 16 orbits. Lovell, Jr., both from the “ New Nine,” aboard Gemini 7, 170 miles above the Mariana Islands.” This had never been done before, and pushed American into the lead in the space race. On December 15, 1965, Schirra flew again, this time aboard Gemini 6A as the command pilot.Īccording to NASA, less than six hours after launch, Schirra and Stafford completed a “ non-docking orbital rendezvous with astronauts Frank Borman and James A. In fact, Schirra chose to name the capsule Sigma because it symbolized engineering precision, and the success of the flight was nothing less than a “textbook” execution.Īfter Project Mercury, Schirra worked alongside NASA scientists, engineers and officials to develop Project Gemini, an intermediate stage between Project Mercury and the Apollo Program. Schirra’s flight paved the way for longer, more complex spaceflights by proving that an astronaut could carefully manage limited resources in space. The six-orbit mission lasted a total of 9 hours, 13 minutes, and 11 seconds, and traveled an estimated 144,000 statute miles before reentry. Schirra became the fifth American in space when he piloted the Sigma 7 capsule for the flight of MA-8 on October 3, 1962. On April 9, 1959, Wally Schirra was selected as one of NASA’s “Original Seven” astronauts for Project Mercury, along with Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Deke Slayton, and Scott Carpenter. Talk about impressive! Schirra was the only astronaut to pilot missions for all three of NASA’s earliest projects. To celebrate, here are some fun, little-known facts about the accomplished pilot: 1) He was the only astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions He piloted the Sigma 7 Mercury mission, and served as Command Pilot for both the history-making Gemini 6A mission and Apollo 7, the first crewed test of the Apollo spacecraft. In total, Schirra flew aboard three missions. 11), and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program, we’re remembering astronaut Walter “Wally” Schirra. To commemorate the anniversary of his Apollo 7 flight (Oct. It’s Friday and that means we’re highlighting an astronaut! Today’s featured space traveler is one of NASA’s “ Original Seven” astronauts.
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