US Astronaut Walter M. “Wally” Schirra died 3 May 2007 of natural causes after battling cancer. Born on 12 March 1923 in Hackensack, New Jersey, he was the fifth American in space, and the third to orbit the Earth. He was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts selected in April 1959, and was a captain in the US Navy.
On 3 October 1962; he piloted the six-orbit Sigma 7 Mercury flight, which lasted 9 hours, 15 minutes. He was the command pilot of Gemini 6, which launched 15 December 1965, and was the first mission to make rendezvous in orbit when it docked with the already orbiting Gemini 7. Schirra was also the command pilot on Apollo VII, the first manned flight of the Apollo program, which launched on 11 October 1968, and splashed down 260 hours later, on 22 October. He logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space, and is unique in that he is the only astronaut to have flown Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.
Schirra retired from NASA and the Navy in 1969, and was the co-author of The Real Space Cowboys.
The only surviving Mercury 7 astronauts are retired Senator John Glenn (the first American to orbit the Earth) and Scott Carpenter. Schirra “was a practical joker, but he was a fine fellow and a fine aviator,” Carpenter said Thursday. “He will be sorely missed in our group.”