NASA pioneering astronaut Wally Schirra has died at the age of 84. One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, he was also a veteran of the Gemini program and was commander of the first Apollo spaceflight (Apollo 7).
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May 3rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Very sad. Wally was my favorite of the original 7 and the only astronaut to fly in all three of the original spacecraft.
- Jack
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
*Stands at attention and gives a salute* Well done Wally. As pioneer of our species, may he be remembered for a long time to come.
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
And only Scott Carpenter and John Glenn are left of the Original Seven.
Godspeed Wally. Smooth Sailing.
May 3rd, 2007 at 4:38 pm
We’re all turtles today.
So long, Wally.
May 3rd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
With all the crap and all the spin on the crap we hear these days, you hear the word ‘Hero” thrown around a lot. Wally Schirra was a hero. We’re all better for his and the other Space Pioneers’ brave contributions.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
My Dad was on board the USS Kearsarge when it recovered Wally Schirra`s
Mercury capsule. When my Dad passed away my Mom gave me his 8mm home movies of the capsule drifting down on its chute and splashing down in the ocean.
It also showed Wally getting out of the capsule on the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier.
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Created a short poem today in memory of that most humorous astronaut.
Now that Wally Schirra is dead
I still remember the space missions he led
Mercury…Gemini…Apollo
A greater astronaut cannot follow He never got to the moon
He passed away
He’ll get there soon…..
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Wally was a remarkable individual and he will be missed.
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Joedog, wow. You should really get that digitized and online. I’ll be happy to post it here or on AstronomyBuzz!
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I do have it on video tape and it`s pretty raw, but I love having it. If I get it converted to digital I will let you know. By the by congrats on the move to Boulder, currently I am just up the road from you in Santa Rosa…
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Jordan: you bet your sweet ass we are.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Farewell, Wally. May the four winds blow you safely home.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:29 am
For the record there was something special about each of the Original Seven. You _could_ sum each up in a line like this :
1) Virgil “Gus†Grissom, was the only one whose capsule, the ‘Liberty Bell’, sunk on landing. He was killed in the 1967 Apollo 1 fire.
2) “Deke†Slayton – was the only one who never flew in space. He died from brain cancer in 1993.
3) Al Shepherd, was the first Mercury astronaut, infact tehfirstAmerican to to fly in space albeit only a sub-orbital shot. He died from leukemia in 1998.
4) Gordon Cooper, flew the last-ever* Mercury mission. to fly. He died of natural causes (heart problems) in 2004.
5) Wally Schirra – was the only one who flew Mercury, Gemini & Apollo missions. (It’s a pity they never sent him up in the shuttle to complete the set!
..)
6) Scott Carpenter, whose scientific flight – the second to orbit Earth -
ended in near disaster after running low on fuel, was, probably unfairly, blamed for the flight problems and was the only one never allowed to fly again.
&
7) John Glenn, was the first American to orbit our planet.
Or you _could_ raed thier own words as Schirra was also the nominal author of two books :
“In 1988, Quinlan Press published Schirra’s memoirs titled Schirra’s Space.
In 2005, he collaborated on a second book, The Real Space Cowboys with
author Ed Buckbee.â€
– quote via space.com e-news feature on Schirra’s death :
http://www.space.com/news/cs_070503_schirra_obit.html
But I’m guessing you really _had_ to _know_ them .. to fully understand just what orartehr _who_ we’ve lost.
(NB. I never got to meet any of them – & I wish I had had the chance too – but that’s my feeling..)
Moreover, I’m guessing it’ll be a while before we appreciate the magnitude of this loss. Just such a shame human spaceflight has got no further than the Moon since the 1970’s …
———————————————————
* That is “Last Mercury flight ever” presuming somebody doesn’t re-enact the historic missions in the future – which given the cost, technology and liklely planning & bureacratic obstacles seems most unlikely!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:33 am
SCR Says: “‘Deke’ Slayton – was the only one who never flew in space. He died from brain cancer in 1993.”
Actually, Slayton flew in the first US/Soviet joint space mission ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz Test Program) in 1975.
- Jack
May 4th, 2007 at 9:35 am
&**!!@@##$$ typos!
Please Bad Astronomer is there really no way you can arrange for us to edit these posts afterwards? :-~
BY. If I had to name a favourite of the original Seven (& bear in mind I’m just going on what I’ve read. ..) I’d have to say Scott Carpenter -the forgotten outsider who actually focused on the science and who was pretty badly treated after his flight. I think he deserves another chance -if I were running NASA, I’d try to redress the balance by offering him a Glenn-style shuttle flight – & it’d be of good comparion data-set value too!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:36 am
BY = By The Way or BTW …. Agian &^%#$@@!!!!%$##$**@ typos …
May 4th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Jack Hagerty Says: (May 4th, 2007 at 9:33 am or nearly 3 am in Adelaide, Oz!)
“SCR Says: “‘Deke’ Slayton – was the only one who never flew in space. He died from brain cancer in 1993.†Actually, Slayton flew in the first US/Soviet joint space mission ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz Test Program) in 1975.
- Jack
Okay. I didn’t know that (obviously) – thanks. I stand corrected.
May 4th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Every time I read that one of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts has passed away, it feels as if part of the world I grew up in has gone dark. Those guys are my heroes, and what they did in the ’60s and early ’70s left an indelible mark on this young boy. Back then, and especially here in Ireland, we lived in a world that was a heck of lot less media-saturated than today. We only had access to two black-and-white TV channels! Shock-horror!!!So whenever I caught a glimpse of a news report about a spaceflight, it was as if I, a mere mortal, was getting a privilaged glimpse through the clouds to see what the Gods of Olympus were doing.
And now another of them has fallen. I feel sad today, and a little older. It sets me to wondering about what has happened to our world, where these days the term ‘hero’ is passed around like a cheap tin star, and attached to the latest reality TV/sport/entertainment figure to grab a few headlines. But we know what a real hero is, don’t we, those of us who refuse to lie down and live our lives vicarously through the hyped existances of others.
So long Wally, and God speed. And as we in Ireland like to say, May you be half way to Heaven before the Devil knows you’re dead.
May 9th, 2007 at 3:29 am
Wally Schirra’s own web site – which has been updated since his death is :
http://www.wallyschirra.com/
(hope the link work!)
It contains a wealth of material, incl. many of his “gotchas” and is well worth a look.
(My thanks go to Kevin Davey for that alerting me to that site..)