Posted on 05/03/2007 9:40:57 AM PDT by Loud Mime
Walter Marty (Wally) Schirra Jr American Pilot Astronaut. Born 12 March 1923. Member of first crew to rendezvous in space. Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.
Astronaut Career
Astronaut Group: NASA Group 1 - 1959. Inactive Entered space service: 2 April 1959. Left space service: 1969. Number of Flights: 3.00. Total Time: 12.30 days.
NAME: Walter M. Schirra
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Schirra was born in Hackensack, NJ, on March 12, 1923.
EDUCATION: Graduated United States Naval Academy in 1945
EXPERIENCE: Schirra received his Naval Flight Training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida, in 1947. He served as a carrier-based fighter pilot and operations officer and then attended the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland. During the Korean War he flew 90 combat missions in the F-86 Sabre as an exchange pilot with the U. S. Air Force and received the Distinguished Flying Cross
NASA selected Schirra as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959. He flew on the fifth Project Mercury flight, orbiting the earth in his Sigma 7 capsule six times in 9 hours 13 minutes on Oct. 3, 1962. Following the fiasco of Carpenter’s preceding flight, he conducted a ‘textbook mission’, with minimal experiments.
Schirra commanded Gemini 6, flying with astronaut Tom Stafford. They were to have tracked down and docked with an Agena satellite, but the Agena exploded after lift-off on Oct. 25, 1965. Innovative planners decided Gemini 6 would rendezvous with Gemini 7, a 14-day endurance flight manned by Frank Borman and James Lovell. Gemini 7 was launched Dec. 4, 1965. Gemini 6 was to take off December 12 but was aborted when the Titan 2 booster rocket engine shut down after ignition.
(Excerpt) Read more at astronautix.com ...
http://www.astronautix.com/flights/merryma8.htm
He has lived quite a life, was a wonderful man. RIP Wally, you will be missed by many and all of those your life has touched.
Everything I had ever heard about him was positive. He sounded like one hell of a guy.
May he rest in peace. (now he KNOWS all the secrets!)
Fair winds and fallowing seas Wally. Rest well and thank you for paving the path to our future, you will be missed.
A great man from an era when we still had heros.
Godspeed to a genuine American hero. Wally was one of the best.
What a blessing to have met him.
I was hoping that more people on FR knew him and would give their stories.
Our greatest thrill was have those brave men visit the school (Lee Hall elementary) and spend a great deal of time speaking about the “space program” and talking and answering our silly questions; ray guns, alien “green” men, etc.
Regrettably, Marty (the son) was arrested last year at San Francisco Airport by the Feds for some kind of international sex crimes. Marty was always an interesting kid. Set fire to the medium in the subdivision where they lived.
The son reminds me of the song “It takes a village to raise a nut” by Tim Wilson. If you haven’t heard it I’ll figure out a way to get it to you.
Only Scott Carpenter and John Glenn remain of the original “Magnificent Seven”
It sure doesn't dampen Wally's life and his heroism.
RIP Wally Schirra
His sense of humor was infectious while an irritant to some in NASA (e.g., Chris Kraft).
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
I remember attending a welcome home parade for Wally Schirra in Oradell NJ. I think my dad went to school with him, but can not remember if it was elementary or highschool or both. Anyone know where Wally Schirra went to school?
Here's a picture of Schirra at Moffett Field, in 1954. He was in Composite Squadron Three (VC-3), in the Transitional Training Unit. Jim Lovell was also there.
One more great one gone.
Some good Tributes playing on NASA TV
He broke the pattern
The Astronauts were in the order they died in.
But then again he is right behind Gordo Cooper.
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