Wally Schirra

Wally Schirra
Schirra in 1964
Born	Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (1923-03-12)March 12, 1923 Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	May 3, 2007(2007-05-03) (aged 84) San Diego, California, U.S.
Education	New Jersey Institute of Technology United States Naval Academy (BS)
Awards	Navy Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross (3) Air Medal (3) NASA Distinguished Service Medal (3) NASA Exceptional Service Medal
Space career
NASA astronaut
Rank	Captain, USN
Time in space	12d 7h 12m
Selection	NASA Group 1 (1959)
Missions	Mercury-Atlas 8 Gemini 6A Apollo 7
Mission insignia
Retirement	July 1, 1969

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (/ʃɜːrˈɑː/, March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program.

Before becoming an astronaut, Schirra graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1945, and served at sea during World War II. In 1948, he became a naval aviator, served as a fighter pilot and flew 90 combat missions in the Korean War, and then in 1958 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Schirra retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of captain.

Schirra was the first astronaut to go into space three times, and the only astronaut to have flown into space in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. In total, he logged 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. After Apollo 7, he retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy as well as from NASA, subsequently becoming a consultant to CBS News in the network's coverage of following Apollo flights. Schirra joined Walter Cronkite as co-anchor for all seven of NASA's Moon landing missions.