Walter Schirra took the road less traveled three times

November 9, 12:09 PMSpace Education ExaminerBarbara Malone

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About the Man:

Born in Hackensack, NJ, Walter Schirra graduatied from high school in June 1940. He studied aeronautical engineering at the Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology).  

In 1942, Schirra entered the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1945. From 1952 to 1954, he served as a test pilot at the Naval Ordnance Training Station at China Lake, California. That was where he first heard about the Mercury Program.  

Schirra's special duty in Project Mercury was the development of environmental controls or life-support systems that would ensure the safety and comfort of the astronaut within the spacecraft during the mission. His responsibilities also included testing and making improvements to the pressurized suit worn by the astronauts.

Walter Schirra holds the distinction of being the only astronaut who participated in all three of NASA's early programs, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

About the Spaceflight:

Mercury 8 (Sigma)

Oct. 3, 1962

  

Read more at NASA:   Schirra's Mercury Spaceflight

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Gemini 6

Dec 15, 1965

The goal of Schirra's Gemini 6 mission was to perform the first rendezvous and docking between different spacecraft. In less than six hours after launching, Schirra and pilot astronaut Stafford completed a non-docking orbital rendezvous with astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., aboard Gemini 7. After sixteen orbits, Gemini 6 splashed down on December 1 in the Atlantic Ocean

Flight lasted for 25 hours, 51 minutes, and 24 seconds

Read more at NASA: Gemini 6

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Apollo 7

October 11-21, 1968

During the flight of Apollo 7, astronauts Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham, tested the spacecraft's systems, specifically the systems that had been redesigned after the Apollo 1 fire.

They also performed rendezvous exercises with the upper stage of the Saturn launch vehicle and provided the first television pictures from a U.S. spacecraft. Apollo splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean after 163 orbits. The flight lasted for 10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes, and 3 seconds

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For more information on the Apollo 7 spaceflight, visit Closer to the moon with Apollo 7

or Aviators in Space