Wally Schirra

Walter Marty Schirra Jr., born on March 12, 1923, was a distinguished American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. His journey into the cosmos began when he was selected as one of the original seven astronauts for Project Mercury in 1959, marking the United States' inaugural effort to send humans into space.

On October 3, 1962, Schirra piloted the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, a six-orbit flight that lasted nine hours, aboard a spacecraft he affectionately named Sigma 7. This mission made him the fifth American and the ninth human to venture into space. His remarkable career continued with the Gemini program, where in December 1965, he achieved the first space rendezvous, skillfully maneuvering his Gemini 6A spacecraft to within one foot of the Gemini 7.

Schirra's leadership skills shone brightly when he commanded Apollo 7 in October 1968, overseeing an eleven-day shakedown test of the Apollo Command/Service Module, which was the first crewed launch of the Apollo program. His extensive experience included graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1945 and serving as a fighter pilot during World War II and the Korean War.

Retiring from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of captain, Schirra became the first astronaut to complete three spaceflights and the only one to have flown in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He logged a total of two hundred ninety-five hours and fifteen minutes in space. Following his retirement from NASA, he transitioned to a role as a consultant for CBS News, co-anchoring the network's coverage of NASA's Moon landing missions alongside Walter Cronkite.