Walter Marty "Wally" Schirra, Jr. (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007), (Capt, USN), was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, America's first effort to put humans in space. He flew the six-orbit, nine-hour Mercury-Atlas 8 mission on October 3, 1962, becoming the fifth American, and the ninth human, to ride a rocket into space. In 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 December 1965. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module. He was the first person to go into space three times, and the only person to have flown in Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, logging a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. He retired from the U.S. Navy at the rank of Captain and from NASA after his Apollo flight, becoming a consultant to CBS News for its coverage of the subsequent Apollo flights. He joined Walter Cronkite as co-anchor for the seven Moon landing missions.Schirra died at the age of 84 on May 3, 2007 of a heart attack due to malignant mesothelioma.
We went to the moon; it took us about three days at the speed we went there. To go to the sun, I keep kidding about it: At the speed of light, it takes eight minutes, but you have to go at night.
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[1981 interview about the first space shuttle] Mostly it's lousy out there. It's a hostile environment, and it's trying to kill you. The outside temperature goes from -450 degrees to +300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle.
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Somebody said ... when you come to within three miles, you've rendezvoused. If anybody thinks they've pulled a rendezvous off at three miles, have fun! This is when we started doing our work. I don't think rendezvous is over until you are stopped - completely stopped - with no relative motion between the two vehicles, at a range of approximately 120 feet. That's rendezvous! From there on, it's station- keeping. That's when you can go back and play the game of driving a car or driving an airplane or pushing a skateboard - it's about that simple.
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[Associated Press interview in April 2007] I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth.
He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School and New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey.
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He was inducted into the 2010 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services and contributions to enterprise.
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He was nominated for the 2008 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services to Enterprise.
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Flew with Thomas P. Stafford on Gemini 6. After their docking target vehicle, the Atlas Agena, failed to make it to orbit, their mission was delayed until after the launch of Gemini 7. Since one goal of Project Gemini was to dock two spacecrafts, both Gemini capsules maneuvered to within a foot of each other. Schirra almost lost his mission a second time when the Titan rocket failed to fire. His emergency procedure was to blast away from the rocket, but he kept is cool and they launched the next day.
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Flew with Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham on Apollo 7, the backup crew for the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission. The flight lasted almost 11 days in October 1968. Except for a nasty head cold he caught, the first test of the Apollo command module was a complete success.
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Wanted to name the Apollo 7 spacecraft "Phoenix," a reference to a mythical bird that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes. He intended the name to be a tribute to the three astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 launchpad fire, but NASA refused his request because they felt that the public might misunderstand his intent and find the fire reference offensive.
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During his Apollo 7 flight, he suffered from a head cold. After he left the space program, he did commercials for Actifed (head cold medicine).
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Survived by his wife, Josephine; his daughter, Suzanne; and his son, Walter III.
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Served in the Korean War. Received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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Made his first flight, in his father's plane, at the age of 13.
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Loved playing practical jokes and pranks. On the Gemini 6 flight, Schirra and crew mate Thomas P. Stafford reported to Mission Control (completely deadpan) that they'd seen "some kind of UFO" consisting of "a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit" (Santa Claus). Then, they played "Jingle Bells" on a harmonica and a set of sleigh bells they'd smuggled aboard with them.
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Logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space, with a full total of 4,577 hours flight time during his career.
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His mother, Florence Leach Schirra, went on her husband's barnstorming tours and performed wing walking stunts.
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His father was a fighter pilot during World War I.
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1945 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
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Inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Fame in 2000.
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Inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1986.
Member of Sigma Pi Fraternity at the Alpha Mu chapter at the Newark College of Engineering (renamed the New Jersey Institute of Technology) Astronaut, Pilot of Mercury-Atlas 8 "Sigma 7" (1962) Command Pilot of Gemini 6 (1965) Commander of Apollo 7 (1968).
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Only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft. Flew on MA-8, Gemini 6, and Apollo 7.
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Selected in 1959 as one of the first astronauts.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Astronaut
1972
TV Movie
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
In Search of Liberty Bell 7
1999
TV Movie documentary special thanks - as Capt. Walter Schirra
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Moonbug
2010
Documentary as Walter Schirra
Project Gemini: A Bridge to the Moon
2003
Video documentary
Himself
Failure Is Not an Option
2003
TV Movie documentary
Himself - Astronaut
The Real Men with 'The Right Stuff'
2003
Video documentary short
Himself (as Walter M. Schirra Jr.)
Korean War Stories
2001
TV Movie documentary
Himself
In Search of Liberty Bell 7
1999
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Turning Point
1996
TV Series documentary
Himself
Moon Shot
1994
TV Movie documentary
Himself - Astronaut
Captain W., astronaute
1994
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special
1991
TV Movie documentary
Himself (as Walter M. Schirra Jr.)
Spaceflight
1985
TV Series documentary
Himself
Bob Hope's Salute to NASA: 25 Years of Reaching for the Stars
1983
TV Movie
Himself
Dinah's Place
1973
TV Series
Himself - Austronaut
Outdoor Rambling
1972
Himself
The Merv Griffin Show
1969
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz
1969
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Meet the Press
1968
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Saturn V Story
2014
Documentary
The Apollo Years
2009
Video
Himself
When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
2008
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Moon Machines
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
Mars Rising
2007
TV Series documentary
Himself
The First Miracle: 1960 US Olympic Hockey Team
2006
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Houston, We've Got a Problem
1994
Documentary short
Himself
For All Mankind
1989
Documentary
Himself
Good Old Days Part II
1978
TV Special
Himself
Known for movies
In Search of Liberty Bell 7 (1999) as Thanks
The Real Men with 'The Right Stuff' (2003) as Himself
Failure Is Not an Option (2003) as Himself - Astronaut
Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991) as Himself
$600,000
