Former NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham, who was the pilot of the Apollo 7 lunar module, the first crewed flight in the US agency’s Apollo Program, died in Houston (Texas) at dawn this Tuesday, at the age of 90.
As reported by NASA in a statement, “Walt Cunningham was a fighter pilot, physicist, and businessman. but, above all, he was an explorer”.
“On Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission launch, Walt and his companions made history, paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today.”, explained in the note the person in charge of NASA, Bill Nelson.
Cunningham was born on March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa. He received a BA with honors in Humanities and Physics in 1960, and a Master of Arts with distinction in Physics in 1961 from the University of California, Los Angeles. He joined the Navy in 1951 and served active duty with the US Marine Corps, retiring with the rank of colonel, having flown 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea.
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Today we mourn the passing of Walt Cunningham: US Marine, patriot, and Apollo astronaut.
Cunningham spent 11 days in low-Earth orbit during Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo flight, and was instrumental to our Moon landing’s program success: https://t.co/VrXhOwQwYd pic.twitter.com/8uquEjdxM7
—NASA (@NASA) January 3, 2023
After working as a scientist in a private corporation, he was selected as an astronaut in 1963, as part of the third generation of NASA astronauts. “On behalf of the NASA Johnson Space Center, we are indebted to Walt’s service to our nation and his dedication to the advancement of human-space,” said Vanessa Wyche, center director.
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On October 11, 1968, Cunningham piloted the 11-day flight of Apollo 7, the first manned test of the Apollo space project. With Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Donn F. Eisele, he tested the maneuvers necessary for lunar orbit docking and rendezvous using the third stage of his Saturn IB launch vehicle. The crew successfully completed eight tests, NASA notes. The 263-hour, 4.5 million-mile (about 7.2 million kilometers) flight splashed down on October 22, 1968, in the Atlantic Ocean. Johnson was head of the Skylab branch of the Flight Crew Directorate and retired from the space agency in 1971, where he directed multiple technical and financial assignments.
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving member of Nasa’s 1st space mission to broadcast live from orbit has died at the age of 90. He and American astronauts Walter Schirra and Donn Eisele completed an 11-day mission on Apollo 7 in 1968. pic.twitter.com/X0V9YBtjRz
— Kosmos 94.1 (@Kosmos941) January 4, 2023
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