It is with great sadness we have just heard that Walt Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the Apollo 7 mission has died. Apollo 7 was launched in 1968, (on October 11th) and was the first manned mission after the deadly Apollo 1 fire. In his 11 days in space Walter took part in the first US live broadcast from space, and Apollo 7 fulfilled Apollo 1’s mission of testing the CSM in low Earth orbit. The flight was a complete success and it proved that it was possible to send a manned flight to the lunar surface.
His two co-astronauts were Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele.
Walt Cunningham was born in Creston, Iowa, and a recipient of an honors bachelor’s degree in physics and a masters with distinction in physics from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Walt Cunningham was 36 years old when the Apollo 7 mission launched.
The crew for NASA’s first Apollo manned flight — (from left) Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele and Walter M. Schirra — prepares for mission simulator tests in 1968 at the North American Aviation plant.
