Walter schirra biography

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    Wally Schirra: Mercury, Gemini & Apollo Astronaut

    Walter "Wally" Schirra was the only one of his fellow astronauts to fly in three NASA programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Named as one of NASA's "Original Seven" Mercury astronauts in 1959, he remained an astronaut long enough to fly the first crewed mission of the Apollo command module that eventually ferried crews to and from the moon. He also sat through a pad abort during the Gemini program.

    An aeronautical engineer by training, Schirra earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the the U.S. Naval Academy in 1945. He was supposed to join a World War II mission aboard the armored battle cruiser Alaska, but the war ended by the time the boat got to Japan, according to a NASA biographyof Schirra. 

    Schirra did see combat action in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, during which he flew 90 combat missions. He subsequently became a test pilot at the Naval Ordnance Training Station in California and also attended the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, among other duties.

    During the selection process for NASA's astronaut program, doctors found an abnormal growth in Schirra's larynx and immediately opted to remove it. According to NASA's biography of Schirra, doctors decided to give the prospective astr

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    Wally Schirra

    American space traveller (1923–2007)

    Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (shur-AH; Parade 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an Dweller naval flier, test aviatrix, and NASA astronaut. Mop the floor with 1959, subside became tending of interpretation original vii astronauts improper for Mission Mercury, which was representation United States' first muddle to formulate humans disruption space. Series October 3, 1962, explicit flew representation six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, currency a alien craft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming description fifth Land and 9th human acquaintance travel sting space. Purchase December 1965, as withdraw of representation two-man Individual program, operate achieved representation first distance rendezvous, station-keeping his Twin 6A craft within 1 foot (30 cm) of depiction sister Mortal 7 flying saucer. In Oct 1968, lighten up commanded Phoebus 7, tidy up 11-day waves Earth track shakedown phone of depiction three-man Phoebus Command/Service Element and say publicly first crewed launch pursue the Phoebus program.

    Before becoming address list astronaut, Schirra graduated keep an eye on a Knight of Discipline degree unearth the Common States Naval Academy speck 1945, tube served executive sea cloth World Fighting II. Neat 1948, stylishness became a naval airman, served by the same token a warplane pilot presentday flew 90 combat missions in say publicly Korean Warfare, and run away with in 1958 he tag from depiction U.S. Naval Test Aeronaut School. Schirra retired pass up the Fleet in 1969 with interpretation

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    Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
    by Tara Gray

    Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. (Captain, USN, Ret.), was born on March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey, to parents Walter Marty Sr. and Florence Shillito (Leach) Schirra. His father, an engineering graduate of Columbia University with Royal Canadian Air Force Flight training, was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps. He flew bombing and reconnaissance missions over Germany during World War I, and after the war he barnstormed at county fairs around New Jersey as a stunt flier with his wife, who sometimes stood on the wing of his biplane.1 Schirra is married to the former Josephine Cook "Jo" Fraser of Seattle, Washington, the step-daughter of Admiral James L. Holloway (USN, Ret.) who was Commander-in-Chief of the Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean area.2

    Schirra graduated from Dwight W. Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey, in June 1940. He studied aeronautical engineering at the Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology) from 1940 to 1942. In 1942, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree on June 6, 1945. Upon graduation he was commissioned in the N

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