The last of the three “Apollo 7” astronauts is dead: Walter Cunningham died in Houston on Tuesday at the age of 90, the American space agency NASA announced. NASA boss Bill Nelson recognized Cunningham as an explorer who, along with his comrades, paved the way for the current “Artemis” generation.
On October 11, 1968, Cunningham was launched under the command of Walter Schirra and with Donn Fulton Eisele for the eleven-day “Apollo 7” mission, the first manned Apollo spaceflight. The mission was a success for NASA – the many tests yielded important information. Which also paved the way for the moon landing a year later.
The stakes were high on the “Apollo 7” mission: About a year and a half earlier, three NASA astronauts were killed in the “Apollo 1” capsule fire during an exercise.
NASA has won an Emmy for live broadcast
The flight of 263 hours and about 7.2 million kilometers ended on October 22, 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean. “Apollo 7” was the first camera that made it possible to broadcast live on television – a PR coup for NASA, for which it even won a renowned American television award, the Emmy.
Donn Fulton Eisele died in 1987, Walter Schirra in 2007, and now Walter Cunningham on Tuesday.
Cunningham was born on March 16, 1932 in Creston, Iowa. The qualified physicist was selected as an astronaut in 1963. In 1971 he left NASA and went on to run several companies. He also hosted radio talk shows. Cunningham is survived by his wife and two children. Commenting on Cunningham’s death, his family said: “The world has lost another true hero and we will miss him dearly.”
Source: Krone
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