Godspeed, Wally!

Wally Schirra has passed:

He was the only astronaut who flew in three of the nation's pioneering space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

NASA selected Schirra as one of the first group of astronauts, along with Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and Deke Slayton.

He flew on the fifth Project Mercury flight, orbiting the Earth six times on October 3, 1962, and was commander of the Gemini 6 flight, which launched December 15, 1965.

Schirra was commander of Apollo 7, the first manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn 1B rocket. He and crew mates Walter Cunningham and Donn Eisele successfully checked all the Apollo systems during the 11-day mission that launched October 11, 1968.

Scott Carpenter and John Glenn are the two surviving members of the original 7

From left to right, back row they are Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper; front row, Walter Schirra, Donald "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.