(Washington Insider Magazine) – Walter Cunningham, who flew to space in Apollo 7, the first flight with NASA Apolo program crew, died Tuesday in Houston Texas.
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut of Apollo 7, died on Tuesday at 90 in Houston Texas.
According to NASA, Cunningham flew to space in Apollo 7, the first flight with the Apollo Program of the American Space Agency.
“Walt Cunningham was a hunting pilot, physicist and businessman, but, above all, it was an explorer. In Apollo 7, the first launch of a manned Apollo mission, Walt and his crew companions made history, racing the way for the Artemisa generation that we see today, ”said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.
Among its numerous awards are the medal at the exceptional service of NASA and the NASA distinguished service medal.
The Cunningham family offered the following statement: “We want to express our immense pride for the life he lived and our deep gratitude for the man who was: patriot, explorer, pilot, astronaut, husband, brother and father. The world has lost another true hero, and we will miss him. ”
The Story of Walter Cunningham
According to a NASA count, Cunningham was born on March 16, 1932 in Creston, Iowa. In 1961 by the University of California in Los Angeles.
Subsequently, he completed a PhD in Physics with the exception of thesis at the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974.
He enlisted in the Navy in 1951 and provided active service in the US Marines Corps, withdrawing with the rank of colonel. He flew 54 missions as a night hunting pilot in Korea. He worked as a scientist for the Rand Corporation for three years.
Cunningham was selected Astronaut in 1963 as part of NASA’s third astronaut promotion. Before being assigned to the Apollo 7 crew, Cunningham was part of the main crew of Apollo 2 until its cancellation and was the reserve pilot of the Apollo 1 lunar module.
Cunningham was appointed pilot of the lunar module for the 11 -day flight of Apollo 7, which took off on October 11, 1968 and was the first human flight test of the Apollo spacecraft. With Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Donn F. Eisele, he rehearsed the necessary maneuvers for coupling and the lunar orbit encounter using the second stage of his saturn ib rocket.
The crew successfully completed eight tests, turning on the motor of the service module, measuring the precision of the performance of all spacecraft systems and providing the first live television broadcast of the on -board crew activities. The 263 -hour flight and 4.5 million miles loved October 22, 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean.
Cunningham’s last mission at NASA Johnson was the head of the Skylab branch of the flight crew address. In this position, he was responsible for the operational inputs of five large pieces of manned space hardware, two different launch vehicles and 56 main experiments that made up the Skylab program.
Cunningham retired from NASA in 1971 and went on to direct multiple technical and financial organizations. He held management positions at Century Development Corp, Hydrotech Development Company and 3D International.
This article is written by La Opinion.
