Another of the Original Seven Passes

Wally Schirra, the only astronaut to fly in all three of America's early space programs (Mercury, Gemini & Apollo) passed away today at age 84. I've read "The Right Stuff" several times, and Schirra was the prankster of the group of seven astronauts who were immediately plunged into hero status, even before they ever flew a mission.

Schirra was the third American to orbit the earth, following the near disastrous flight of Scott Carpenter. According to the book, Carpenter was so loaded down with science experiments and was so enamored by the machine that he got seriously behind in his reentry checklist and was dangerously low on maneuvering fuel when his craft finally returned. As a result of these problems, he missed his reentry target by some 250 miles and for about 90 minutes there was fear that his craft had been destroyed. Walter Cronkite even tearfully stated that "it looked like America may have lost an astronaut".

When it was Schirra's turn, he was adamant about having a perfect flight and not letting the scientists load him up with work that could cause a similar screw-up, and during much of his six orbits he allowed the craft to drift in what he called "chimp mode" to save fuel (a wry crack at the chimps that made the first two Mercury flights). As a result, he returned with something like half his maneuvering fuel still in the tanks and a spotless flight.

He next flew on Gemini 6A which along with Gemini 7 was the first time two manned spacecraft had rendezvoused in flight. That was an important precurser to the work that would need to be done in order to join the various craft that would fly to the moon.

In 1968 Schirra flew again on the first manned Apollo flight, Apollo 7. This was America's first flight after the tragic Apollo 1 fire that took the life of fellow Original Seven member Gus Grissom. Apollo 7 shook down many of the craft's systems and paved the way for Apollo 8 to go to the moon later that year. He never made it to the moon, but served as a commentator with Walter Cronkite on several subsequent flights. I also remember him as a local pitchman for a real estate sales firm.

NASA has a bio of Schirra that can be found here.