Wally Schirra

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Wally Schirra
NASA astronaut
RankCaptain, USN
Time in space
12d 7h 12m
SelectionNASA Group 1 (1959)
Missions
Mission insignia
RetirementJuly 1, 1969

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (

Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program
.

Before becoming an astronaut, Schirra graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1945, and served at sea during World War II. In 1948, he became a naval aviator, served as a fighter pilot and flew 90 combat missions in the Korean War, and then in 1958 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Schirra retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of captain.

Schirra was the first astronaut to go into space three times, and the only astronaut to have flown into space in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. In total, he logged 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. After Apollo 7, he retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy as well as from NASA, subsequently becoming a consultant to CBS News in the network's coverage of following Apollo flights. Schirra joined Walter Cronkite as co-anchor for all seven of NASA's Moon landing missions.

Early life and education

Schirra was born on March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey, to a family of aviators. His paternal grandparents were from Bavaria and Switzerland, and originally of Sardinian ancestry (more specifically from Ghilarza). Schirra's father, Walter M. Schirra Sr. (1893–1973), who was born in Philadelphia, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I, and flew bombing and reconnaissance missions over Germany. After the war, he performed as a barnstormer at county fairs in New Jersey. Schirra's mother, Florence Shillito Schirra (née Leach; 1898–1982), went along on her husband's barnstorming tours and performed wing walking stunts.[1]: 9–11 [2]

Schirra Jr. grew up in

Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and the Sigma Pi fraternity. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Schirra decided to apply to a service academy. His father encouraged him to apply to West Point, but he decided to enroll in the United States Naval Academy instead. He 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.[1]: 10–13 [3][4]

Military service

Schirra in the cockpit of his F-84 Thunderjet during Korean War, 1951
F3H Demon
delivery (c. 1958)

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Schirra was commissioned as an

: 16–20 

After he completed training, Schirra received his

: 21–27 

Schirra was initially deployed with the

Itazuke Air Force Base in Japan, from where he flew missions into South Korea. As U.S. troops advanced north, the squadron was reassigned to a base in Daegu. In the eight-month deployment, Schirra flew 90 combat missions and downed two MiG-15s.[1]: 29–32 [4]

After completing his tour in Korea, Schirra became a

: 33–43 

Schirra was a member of Class 20 at the Naval Test Pilot School, along with future fellow astronauts

F4H Phantom to determine if it could become a carrier-based aircraft.[1]
: 43–46 

NASA career

Project Mercury

Schirra (3rd from right) with fellow Mercury astronauts (1961)
Schirra during training before Mercury-Atlas 8 mission (1962)

In February 1959, Schirra was one of 110 military test pilots selected by their commanding officers as candidates for the newly formed

suborbital mission. Schirra was initially assigned as Deke Slayton's backup for the second orbital Mercury flight but was replaced with Carpenter when Slayton was grounded. Schirra was instead scheduled for the third orbital flight.[1]: 65, 75–76 [5]

At 7:15 am on October 3, 1962, Schirra lifted off aboard his Mercury flight, named Sigma 7. After a minor trajectory deviation early in flight, Sigma 7 achieved orbit. Once in orbit, Schirra demonstrated manually positioning and maneuvering his spacecraft using a reaction control system. After the navigation issues during Carpenter's Aurora 7 mission, NASA and Schirra focused on the engineering and human factors in manually operating the capsule. Schirra reported rising suit temperatures, reaching a high of 32 °C (90 °F), before he was able to adjust his suit's cooling system manually. After completing his spacecraft tests, Schirra tested his ability to use controls in a zero-gravity environment without sight. Throughout his mission, Schirra demonstrated the ability to act as a backup to automatic controls and manually fly the spacecraft. After six orbits, Schirra manually aligned his spacecraft over Africa and performed retrofire. Sigma 7 landed 5 miles (8.0 km) from the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge, in the central Pacific Ocean. Once Sigma 7 was on deck, 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. After Schirra returned to the US, he and his family were invited to the Oval Office at the White House to meet President Kennedy on October 16.[1]: 85–94 [6]

Project Gemini

Schirra during a Gemini 6 training simulation (1965)

At the beginning of the Gemini program,

Tom Stafford as the pilot, but they were replaced by a backup crew after Shepard was diagnosed with Ménière's disease, a disorder of the inner ear. Schirra and Stafford became the backup crew for the new Gemini 3 crew, Gus Grissom and John Young, and were subsequently scheduled for the Gemini 6 primary crew. Gemini 6 was originally scheduled to perform the first orbital docking with an Agena target vehicle. The Agena vehicle exploded during its launch into orbit on October 25, 1965, while Schirra and Stafford waited in their spacecraft to lift off. Program managers decided that rather than wait for a replacement Agena to be available, they would revise the mission, calling it Gemini 6A and having it attempt a rendezvous with Gemini 7, to be flown by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. On December 4, 1965, Gemini 7 lifted off to begin its two-week mission. Gemini 6A prepared to launch on December 12, but its engines shut down less than two seconds after ignition. Despite protocols calling for the astronauts to eject from the spacecraft in the event of an engine shutdown, Schirra chose not to activate his and Stafford's rocket-powered ejection seats, saving them both from probable injuries and a further delay and possible cancellation of the mission. Gemini 6A lifted off on December 15 and successfully rendezvoused with Gemini 7 after five hours of flight. The two spacecraft maneuvered to within one foot of each other and kept station for 5 hours. Following the rendezvous, Gemini 6A deorbited on December 16 and was recovered in the Atlantic ocean southeast of Cape Canaveral by the USS Wasp.[1]: 157–168 [7]
: 50–76 

While on the Gemini mission, Schirra played a

UFO (implying Santa Claus) sighting, then playing "Jingle Bells" on a four-hole Hohner harmonica he had smuggled on board, accompanied by Stafford on sleigh bells.[1]: 165 [8]

Apollo program

Schirra as the Commander of Apollo 7 crew (1968)
NASA Administrator Webb and Vice President Humphrey
(1968)

In mid-1966, Schirra was assigned to command a three-man

Apollo Command/Service Module, with a mission profile identical to Apollo 1. Schirra argued against a repeat mission, and his crew became the backup crew for Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. 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. Schirra's crew became the prime crew of the first crewed flight. This became Apollo 7 in the program's revised mission numbering plan, and was delayed until the fall of 1968 while safety improvements were made to the Command Module.[1]
: 180–193 

Schirra had gained a sense of security from having

McDonnell Aircraft employee, as the pad leader responsible for the spacecraft's launch readiness. As the Apollo contractor was now North American Aviation, Wendt was no longer pad leader. After the Apollo 1 accident, Schirra felt so strongly he wanted none other than Wendt as pad leader for his Apollo flight, that he convinced Deke Slayton and North American's launch operations manager Bastian "Buzz" Hello to hire Wendt as Apollo 7 pad leader. Wendt remained pad leader for the remainder of the Apollo and Skylab programs, and stayed on with NASA into the Space Shuttle program before retiring.[1]: 195 [9] However, 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.[10]

Apollo 7 was launched on October 11, 1968, making Schirra the first person to fly in space three times. Prior to launch, Schirra had objected because of high winds, which could have injured the astronauts in the event of an abort within the first minute of the mission. After reaching orbit, the Apollo 7

CSM performed space rendezvous and docking exercises with the S-4B stage to simulate retrieving the Apollo Lunar Module. On the second day of the mission, the crew conducted the first live television pictures publicly broadcast from inside a crewed spacecraft.[1]: 199–203 [note 1]

During the mission, Schirra became sick with a

Chris Kraft and Deke Slayton to wear helmets during reentry, Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham refused and performed reentry without them. Apollo 7 landed southeast of Bermuda on October 22, 1968.[1]: 206–209 [4]

Prior to the Apollo 7 launch, Schirra had decided to retire after the flight, and left the NASA Astronaut Corps on July 1, 1969. Schirra's last assignment as an astronaut was to conduct the investigation into Neil Armstrong's Lunar Landing Research Vehicle crash, which he attributed to a mechanical failure and recommended suspending training with the vehicle.[1]: 208, 211, 216  On the same date, Schirra retired from the Navy with the rank of Captain.[4]

Post-NASA career

Television career

A combination of pseudoephedrine decongestant with triprolidine antihistamine was the cold medicine carried on board the Apollo missions and prescribed by the flight surgeon. Years later when this became available over the counter as Actifed, the makers of Actifed hired Schirra as a television commercial spokesman, based on the notoriety of his Apollo 7 in-space head cold.[1]: 207 [4]

During later Apollo missions, he served as a consultant to CBS News from 1969 to 1975. He joined Walter Cronkite to co-anchor the network's coverage of the seven Moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 11 (joined by Arthur C. Clarke) and including the ill-fated Apollo 13.[1]: 221–223 [12]

Business career

Following his NASA career, Schirra became

chairman and CEO from 1970 to 1973.[13] The company merged with SERNCO Incorporated in 1973. Schirra started as vice-chairman, but was elected to chairman of the board later that year.[14] He also worked to develop an Alaskan oil pipeline[1]: 218–221 [15] and was a member of an advisory board for U.S. National Parks in the Department of the Interior from 1973 to 1985.[4][16]

In January 1979, Schirra founded Schirra Enterprises, and worked as a consultant until 1980. He 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.[1]: 218–221 [4][15][17][18][19] Schirra was president of the energy development company Prometheus from 1980 to 1981.[19] In 1984, he was among the surviving Mercury astronauts who established the Mercury Seven Foundation, now known as the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, to award college scholarships to science and engineering students.[4][20]

Writing career

Schirra, along with the rest of the Mercury Seven, co-authored the 1962 book We Seven, detailing the training and development of the Mercury program.[21] Along with Richard N. Billings, Schirra released his autobiography Schirra's Space in 1988.[22] In 1995, he co-authored the book Wildcats to Tomcats: The Tailhook Navy with Barrett Tillman and fellow Navy Captains Richard L. (Zeke) Cormier, and Phil Wood. It describes five decades of Naval aviation, including accounts of combat tours in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.[23] In 2005, he co-authored the book The Real Space Cowboys with Ed Buckbee. The book is an account of the 'Mercury Seven' astronauts. It follows them through the process of selection for the program, their entire careers, and into retirement. Schirra was also a contributor to the 2007 book, In the Shadow of the Moon, which was his final authored work.[24]

Personal life

Shortly after being commissioned in the Navy, Schirra began dating Josephine Cook "Jo" Fraser.[4] Schirra and Fraser were married on February 23, 1946.[1]: 15  They had two children, Walter M. (III) and Suzanne Karen, born in 1950 and 1957.[25] Jo Schirra died April 27, 2015, at the age of 91.[26]

Death

Commander Lee Axtell releases the ashes of Wally Schirra during his burial at sea (2008).

Schirra died on May 3, 2007, of a

USS Ronald Reagan and his ashes were released by Commander Lee Axtell, the command chaplain aboard (see photo).[29]

Awards and honors

) was named after Schirra (2010).

Throughout his military career, Schirra received numerous military decorations, including three

United Nations Korea Medal, and the Korean War Service Medal. Schirra has also received civilian aviation awards, the AIAA Award (1963), the Harmon Trophy (1965), the Kitty Hawk Award, and the Golden Key Award.[15][33]

When Schirra was awarded his

Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1962,[37] along with the rest of the Mercury 7. The award was typically given to engineers and inventors, but aviators were awarded this time instead.[38]

Schirra was a 33rd Degree

Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania, and Oradell, New Jersey.[48][49] Walter M. Schirra Elementary School in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, is named after Schirra.[50]

In film and television

See also

Notes

  1. Gordon Cooper's Mercury flight in 1963, but this was not broadcast to the public.[11]

References

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Bibliography

External links