45 Facts About Wally Schirra

1.

At the time of his mission in Sigma 7, Schirra became the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space.

2.

Wally Schirra retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of captain.

3.

Wally Schirra was the first astronaut to go into space three times, and was the only astronaut to have flown in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

4.

Wally Schirra was not the only Mercury astronaut to be in all three programs; Gus Grissom did it too.

5.

In total, Wally Schirra logged 295 hours and 15 minutes in space.

6.

Wally Schirra joined Walter Cronkite as co-anchor for all seven of NASA's Moon landing missions.

7.

Wally Schirra was born on March 12,1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey, to a family of aviators.

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8.

Wally Schirra graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey, in June 1940 and enrolled in the Newark College of Engineering, where he was involved in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and the Sigma Pi fraternity.

9.

Wally Schirra's father encouraged him to apply to West Point, but he decided to enroll in the United States Naval Academy instead.

10.

Wally Schirra graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1945 after only three years instead of four, as the Naval Academy had a wartime accelerated curriculum.

11.

Wally Schirra applied for an exchange program with the US Air Force to gain combat experience, was selected for the program, and trained to fly on the F-84 Thunderjet.

12.

Wally Schirra was initially deployed with the 154th Fighter-Bomber Squadron to Itazuke Air Force Base in Japan, from where he flew missions into South Korea.

13.

Wally Schirra was assigned to NAS Moffett to begin transition training to the Cutlass, and subsequently the F3H Demon.

14.

Wally Schirra was a member of Class 20 at the Naval Test Pilot School, along with future fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and Pete Conrad, where he learned to fly numerous aircraft, including the F4D Skyray, the F11F Tiger, and the F8U Crusader.

15.

In February 1959, Wally Schirra was one of 110 military test pilots selected by their commanding officers as candidates for the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury, the first US crewed space flight program.

16.

Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra flew F-106 Delta Dart chase planes during Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 suborbital mission.

17.

Wally Schirra was initially assigned as Deke Slayton's backup for the second orbital Mercury flight but was replaced with Carpenter when Slayton was grounded.

18.

At 7:15am on October 3,1962, Wally Schirra lifted off aboard his Mercury flight, named Sigma 7.

19.

Once in orbit, Wally Schirra demonstrated manually positioning and maneuvering his spacecraft using a reaction control system.

20.

Once Sigma 7 was on deck, Wally Schirra activated the explosive hatch to egress the spacecraft, and received a large bruise, proving that Grissom had not intentionally opened his hatch on Liberty Bell 7.

21.

Wally Schirra argued against a repeat mission, and his crew became the backup crew for Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

22.

Wally Schirra's crew conducted tests in the command module on January 26,1967, and were en route to Houston the next day when Grissom and his crew were killed in a fire during a test.

23.

Wally Schirra's crew became the prime crew of the first crewed flight.

24.

Wally Schirra had gained a sense of security from having Guenter Wendt, a McDonnell Aircraft employee, as the pad leader responsible for the spacecraft's launch readiness.

25.

However, Wally Schirra was prevented from naming his spacecraft Phoenix in honor of the Apollo 1 crew, because some believed that its nickname as a metaphor for "fire" might be misunderstood.

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26.

Wally Schirra joined Walter Cronkite to co-anchor the network's coverage of the seven Moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 11 and including the ill-fated Apollo 13.

27.

Wally Schirra left Regency Investors to form Environmental Control Company and served as the company's chairman and CEO from 1970 to 1973.

28.

Wally Schirra started as vice-chairman, but was elected to chairman of the board later that year.

29.

Wally Schirra worked to develop an Alaskan oil pipeline and was a member of an advisory board for US National Parks in the Department of the Interior from 1973 to 1985.

30.

In January 1979, Wally Schirra founded Wally Schirra Enterprises, and worked as a consultant until 1980.

31.

Wally Schirra worked for the Belgian Consulate for Colorado and New Mexico, from 1971 to 1984, and was a board member of several corporations including Electromedics, Finalco, Kimberly-Clark, Net Air International, Rocky Mountain Airlines, and Johns-Manville Corporation.

32.

Wally Schirra was president of the energy development company Prometheus from 1980 to 1981.

33.

Wally Schirra was a contributor to the 2007 book, In the Shadow of the Moon, which was his final authored work.

34.

Shortly after being commissioned in the Navy, Wally Schirra began dating Josephine Cook "Jo" Fraser.

35.

Wally Schirra died on May 3,2007, of a heart attack while undergoing treatment for abdominal cancer at Scripps Green Hospital in San Diego, California.

36.

Wally Schirra was cremated and his ashes were committed to the sea on February 11,2008.

37.

Wally Schirra was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp, the China Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal.

38.

Wally Schirra has received civilian aviation awards, the AIAA Award, the Harmon Trophy, the Kitty Hawk Award, and the Golden Key Award.

39.

When Wally Schirra was awarded his Navy Astronaut Wings by Secretary Fred Korth, the Navy's uniform guidance did not specify if it would be worn alongside his naval aviator wings, or replace them.

40.

Wally Schirra decided to wear his astronaut wings above his ribbons, and the aviator wings below them.

41.

Wally Schirra was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for being the commander of Apollo 7.

42.

Wally Schirra was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for escorting B-29 bombers during the Korean War, a gold star for his Sigma 7 flight, and a second gold star for flying on Gemini 6A.

43.

Wally Schirra was awarded the Robert J Collier Trophy in 1962, along with the rest of the Mercury 7.

44.

Wally Schirra was a 33rd Degree Mason and part of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as a fellow of the American Astronautical Society.

45.

Wally Schirra received Honorary Doctorates of Science from three colleges and universities: Lafayette College, the University of Southern California, and his alma mater the Newark College of Engineering.

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