Judging simply by the astronauts who got here collectively to recollect Walt Cunningham on Tuesday (Jan. 24), the late Apollo 7 pilot’s attain prolonged far past his 1968 launch into space.
The group, who took half in a panel discussion (opens in new tab) earlier than a extra conventional funeral service at Houston First Baptist Church, included two of Cunningham’s fellow Apollo colleagues and 4 NASA veterans who flew on the space shuttle and International Space Station — the latter properly after Cunningham had retired. All of them stated they had been grateful for Cunningham’ friendship.
“Fred and I had been in the identical group of what we known as the ‘Authentic 19,’ and naturally we met all of the astronauts after we first arrived and Walt was one in all them,” stated Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke, who with Apollo 13 lunar module pilot Fred Haise, joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 1966, two years earlier than Cunningham made his first and solely flight.
“He was a terrific pal, a terrific mentor and nice spokesman for NASA all through the years. We actually miss him,” stated Duke.
Associated: Walter Cunningham: Apollo 7 astronaut
Cunningham died on Jan. 3 (opens in new tab) attributable to problems from a fall. He was 90.
The Apollo 7 mission made historical past in numerous methods. It was the primary U.S. spaceflight to broadcast dwell tv from space and it was the primary time NASA launched a three-person crew (Cunningham’s crewmates, Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele, preceded him in dying). Most significantly, although, the “101-percent successful” mission (opens in new tab) served as a vital shakeout cruise for the Apollo command module, which was redesigned after a fireplace claimed the lives of the Apollo 1 crew throughout a take a look at on the launchpad.
“The first flight of a new spacecraft (opens in new tab) is all the time a vital mission,” stated George Abbey, who as an engineer after which director, helped lead NASA’s efforts to land astronauts on the moon. “In case you have a look at the contribution that Walt and his teammates made on Apollo 7, it was actually the important thing to permitting us to make the lunar touchdown that we made in July of 1969. It would not have occurred with out the success of that mission.”
“I’ll all the time have reminiscences of Walt and his crew flying that flight,” stated Abbey.
Bob Crippen didn’t fly into space till the primary launch of the space shuttle in 1981, however having transferred to NASA from the U.S. Air Drive’s cancelled Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in 1969, he labored with Cunningham on the Apollo Functions Program (AAP), which developed into the Skylab orbital workshop.
One of many first duties that Cunningham assigned Crippen to do was take a look at the waste assortment system for the brand new space station.
“They wish to do [the test] on a zero-g parabola on the KC-135 [aircraft] at Wright Patterson Air Drive Base. Your process is to go ship a ‘quantity two’ in a single parabola, which is about 30 seconds,” Crippen recalled Cunningham telling him. “Being the brand new man you do not flip down a job and so I stated, ‘Aye, aye sir’ and went to Dayton, Ohio.”
“That morning, I received up and had an enormous breakfast of steak and eggs, and I delivered on the primary parabola. I used to be comfortable to come back dwelling and inform Walt, ‘mission completed,'” he stated with an enormous smile.
“I’m informed that Walt needed this to be enjoyable and to snigger,” journalist Melissa Jacobs, who moderated the panel, stated.
The three different members of the panel turned astronauts after Cunningham had left NASA to grow to be a businessman.
“I first met Walt after I was in center college,” stated Bernard Harris, who in 1995 turned the primary Black astronaut to carry out a spacewalk on the second of his two space shuttle flights. “It wasn’t till in all probability 20 or 30 years later that I really received to know Walt.”
“Once I received out [of NASA] and determined I used to be going to enter enterprise capital, I [thought] I could possibly be the primary [astronaut] to [do so]. Nicely, it seems I wasn’t. Walt began his enterprise capital agency in 1982. He then turned my mentor. So I owe him lots.”
Anna Fisher was one of many first six girls to grow to be a NASA astronaut and was the primary mom to fly into space. Like Harris, she received to know Cunningham lengthy after they’d each left this system.
“I want I had an opportunity to work with him,” she stated. “He feels like he would have been a terrific boss, however I am glad that it was higher late than by no means to have a friendship with this wonderful, very opinionated individual, who I actually really admired.”
As the one astronaut on the panel nonetheless on energetic flight obligation with NASA, Randy Bresnik solely received to know Cunningham comparatively not too long ago, however drew parallels in what Cunningham achieved with what the space company is doing now.
“I prefer to assume that Walt’s spirit definitely lives on as we simply had Artemis 1, the primary uncrewed flight of the Artemis program. The very subsequent flight, ideally in two years from now, we will put folks on, similar to we did with Apollo 7,” stated Bresnik. “And we’re not simply preserving them in low Earth orbit, we’re sending them to the moon and again. All of that will not be attainable with out pioneers like Walt.”
“So Godspeed Walt Cunningham,” he stated.
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