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..)

“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.

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!

Actually, Slayton flew in the first US/Soviet joint space mission ASTP (Apollo-Soyuz Test Program) in 1975.

- Jack

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.”
– 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!

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…..

So long, Wally.

Godspeed Wally. Smooth Sailing.

- Jack