a hero passes

RIP Wally Shirra



1 hour agoUPDATED 1 HOUR 3 MINUTES AGO

Astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr. is shown posed for ...

SAN DIEGO - Walter M. Schirra Jr., one of the original Mercury Seven
astronauts and the only man to fly on NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
programs, died Thursday. He was 84.

Schirra died of a heart attack at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, said
Ruth Chandler Varonfakis, a family friend and spokeswoman for the San Diego
Aerospace Museum. NASA had said he died late Wednesday but the family and
the medical examiner's office both said it was Thursday.

An aviation buff since childhood, known to fellow astronauts for his
colorful personality and independent streak, Schirra became the third
American to orbit the Earth in October 1962. He encircled the globe six
times in a flight that lasted more than nine hours.

Americans in space before him were Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom,
who flew suborbital flights in 1961, and John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, who
orbited Earth earlier in 1962. The Soviet Union had beaten the United States
into space, putting cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April 1961, weeks
before Shepard's suborbital trip.

Schirra returned to space in 1965 as commander of Gemini 6 and guided his
two-man capsule toward Gemini 7, already in orbit. On Dec. 15, 1965, the two
ships came within a few feet of each other as they shot through space, some
185 miles above the Earth. It was the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in
orbit.

His third and final space flight in 1968 inaugurated the Apollo program that
the following year put men on the moon.

The former Navy test pilot said he initially had little interest when he
heard of NASA's Mercury program. But he grew more intrigued over time and
the space agency named him one of the Mercury Seven in April 1959.

Supremely confident, Schirra sailed through rigorous astronaut training with
what one reporter called "the ease of preparing for a family picnic."

"He was a practical joker, but he was a fine fellow and a fine aviator,"
Carpenter recalled Thursday. "He will be sorely missed in our group."
Carpenter said he last saw Schirra several months ago and talked to him just
a few days ago.

Roger Launius, a space historian at the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, said Schirra "had a personality that was fun and effervescent.
He had the gift of gab. He was able to take complex engineering and
scientific ideas and translate that to something that was understandable."

Launius recalled that Schirra smuggled a corned beef sandwich on his Gemini
flight and also reported seeing a UFO ... Santa Claus.

Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Oct. 3, 1962, aboard the Sigma 7
Mercury spacecraft.

"I'm having a ball up here drifting," Schirra said from space.

At the end of his sixth orbit, Schirra piloted the capsule for a perfect
splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

"No one has flown better than you," NASA Administrator James E. Webb told
him a few days later.

The only Mercury Seven astronauts who survive him are Glenn and Carpenter.

Although he never walked on the moon, Schirra laid some of the groundwork
that made future missions possible.

He liked to stress that NASA never planned to simply send a person to the
moon.

"Moon and back," Schirra would point out. "We did confirm a round trip from
the very beginning. And `moonandback' is one word. No hyphens. No commas."

His Gemini mission represented a major step forward in the nation's space
race with the Soviet Union, proving that two ships could dock in space.
Schirra's Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 restored the nation's confidence
in the space program, which had been shaken a year earlier when three
astronauts, including Grissom, were killed in a fire on the launch pad.

The Apollo 7 crew shot into space atop a Saturn rocket, a version of which
would later carry men to the moon. But Schirra and his two fellow
crewmembers were grumpy for most of the 11-day trip. All three developed bad
colds that proved to be a major nuisance in weightlessness.

The following year, Schirra resigned from NASA and retired from the Navy
with the rank of captain. He had logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space.

"Mostly it's lousy out there," Schirra said in 1981 on the occasion of the
first space shuttle flight. "It's a hostile environment, and it's trying to
kill you. The outside temperature goes from a minus 450 degrees to a plus
300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle."

A native of Hackensack, N.J., Schirra developed an early interest in flight.
His father was a fighter pilot during World War I and later barnstormed at
county fairs with Schirra's mother, who sometimes stood on the wing of a
biplane during flights.

Wally, as he liked to be called, took his first flight with his father at
age 13 and already knew how to fly when he left home for the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Md.

After graduation in 1945, Schirra served in the Seventh Fleet and flew 90
combat missions during the Korean War. He was credited with shooting down
one Soviet MiG-15 and possibly a second. He received the Distinguished
Flying Cross and two Air Medals.

In 1984, he moved to the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe, serving on
corporate boards and as an independent consultant. His favorite craft became
the Windchime, a 36-foot sailboat.

Schirra was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 2000.

High Flight
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Godspeed!
Hub

"Ray O'Hara" wrote in message
...
RIP Wally Shirra



1 hour agoUPDATED 1 HOUR 3 MINUTES AGO

Astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr. is shown posed for ...

SAN DIEGO - Walter M. Schirra Jr., one of the original Mercury Seven
astronauts and the only man to fly on NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
programs, died Thursday. He was 84.

Schirra died of a heart attack at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, said
Ruth Chandler Varonfakis, a family friend and spokeswoman for the San
Diego
Aerospace Museum. NASA had said he died late Wednesday but the family and
the medical examiner's office both said it was Thursday.

An aviation buff since childhood, known to fellow astronauts for his
colorful personality and independent streak, Schirra became the third
American to orbit the Earth in October 1962. He encircled the globe six
times in a flight that lasted more than nine hours.

Americans in space before him were Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom,
who flew suborbital flights in 1961, and John Glenn and Scott Carpenter,
who
orbited Earth earlier in 1962. The Soviet Union had beaten the United
States
into space, putting cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April 1961, weeks
before Shepard's suborbital trip.

Schirra returned to space in 1965 as commander of Gemini 6 and guided his
two-man capsule toward Gemini 7, already in orbit. On Dec. 15, 1965, the
two
ships came within a few feet of each other as they shot through space,
some
185 miles above the Earth. It was the first rendezvous of two spacecraft
in
orbit.

His third and final space flight in 1968 inaugurated the Apollo program
that
the following year put men on the moon.

The former Navy test pilot said he initially had little interest when he
heard of NASA's Mercury program. But he grew more intrigued over time and
the space agency named him one of the Mercury Seven in April 1959.

Supremely confident, Schirra sailed through rigorous astronaut training
with
what one reporter called "the ease of preparing for a family picnic."

"He was a practical joker, but he was a fine fellow and a fine aviator,"
Carpenter recalled Thursday. "He will be sorely missed in our group."
Carpenter said he last saw Schirra several months ago and talked to him
just
a few days ago.

Roger Launius, a space historian at the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, said Schirra "had a personality that was fun and effervescent.
He had the gift of gab. He was able to take complex engineering and
scientific ideas and translate that to something that was understandable."

Launius recalled that Schirra smuggled a corned beef sandwich on his
Gemini
flight and also reported seeing a UFO ... Santa Claus.

Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Oct. 3, 1962, aboard the Sigma
7
Mercury spacecraft.

"I'm having a ball up here drifting," Schirra said from space.

At the end of his sixth orbit, Schirra piloted the capsule for a perfect
splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

"No one has flown better than you," NASA Administrator James E. Webb told
him a few days later.

The only Mercury Seven astronauts who survive him are Glenn and Carpenter.

Although he never walked on the moon, Schirra laid some of the groundwork
that made future missions possible.

He liked to stress that NASA never planned to simply send a person to the
moon.

"Moon and back," Schirra would point out. "We did confirm a round trip
from
the very beginning. And `moonandback' is one word. No hyphens. No commas."

His Gemini mission represented a major step forward in the nation's space
race with the Soviet Union, proving that two ships could dock in space.
Schirra's Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 restored the nation's
confidence
in the space program, which had been shaken a year earlier when three
astronauts, including Grissom, were killed in a fire on the launch pad.

The Apollo 7 crew shot into space atop a Saturn rocket, a version of which
would later carry men to the moon. But Schirra and his two fellow
crewmembers were grumpy for most of the 11-day trip. All three developed
bad
colds that proved to be a major nuisance in weightlessness.

The following year, Schirra resigned from NASA and retired from the Navy
with the rank of captain. He had logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space.

"Mostly it's lousy out there," Schirra said in 1981 on the occasion of the
first space shuttle flight. "It's a hostile environment, and it's trying
to
kill you. The outside temperature goes from a minus 450 degrees to a plus
300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle."

A native of Hackensack, N.J., Schirra developed an early interest in
flight.
His father was a fighter pilot during World War I and later barnstormed at
county fairs with Schirra's mother, who sometimes stood on the wing of a
biplane during flights.

Wally, as he liked to be called, took his first flight with his father at
age 13 and already knew how to fly when he left home for the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Md.

After graduation in 1945, Schirra served in the Seventh Fleet and flew 90
combat missions during the Korean War. He was credited with shooting down
one Soviet MiG-15 and possibly a second. He received the Distinguished
Flying Cross and two Air Medals.

In 1984, he moved to the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe, serving on
corporate boards and as an independent consultant. His favorite craft
became
the Windchime, a 36-foot sailboat.

Schirra was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 2000.

In article ,
"Ray O'Hara" wrote:

He had logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space.

Isn't that the equivalent of 297 hours and 34 minutes?

john smith wrote:
In article ,
"Ray O'Hara" wrote:

He had logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space.

Isn't that the equivalent of 297 hours and 34 minutes?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Schirra



Mathematically - yes. Wikipedia reports a total of 295 hours
and 15 minutes in space.



It could be an error, possibly some ambiguity between different references
or maybe Ray has fat fingers.




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Hub & Diane Plott" wrote in message
...
High Flight
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Godspeed!
Hub

I doubt that Magee could have conceived his poem being used in honor of a
man that truly left the earth. I don't know if Wally Schirra actually
"touched the face of God", but I know he received a hero's welcome to
heaven. He, and the rest of the early astronauts were the faces of dreams
to the world. Today's society takes space flight for granted. It's barely
newsworthy when a shuttle flies anymore. The space program of the 60's
brought us heroes like Schirra that will live in the minds and hearts of
those that grew up with the legends.
Rob

"john smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ray O'Hara" wrote:

He had logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space.

Isn't that the equivalent of 297 hours and 34 minutes?



hmmmm, good point.

Dave Kearton heeft uiteengezet op 4-5-2007 :
john smith wrote:
In article ,
"Ray O'Hara" wrote:

Isn't that the equivalent of 297 hours and 34 minutes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Schirra

Mathematically - yes. Wikipedia reports a total of 295 hours
and 15 minutes in space.

It could be an error, possibly some ambiguity between different references
or maybe Ray has fat fingers.

If look at the wikipedia site on Wally Schirra, I see 2 different space
times: 295 hours and 15 minuts, and on the richt a time of 12 days, 7
hours and 12 minutes (295 hours and 12 minutes) a differance of 3
minutes...
What is the right space time???

André

"André, PE1PQX" wrote:

If look at the wikipedia site on Wally Schirra, I see 2 different space
times: 295 hours and 15 minuts, and on the richt a time of 12 days, 7
hours and 12 minutes (295 hours and 12 minutes) a differance of 3
minutes...
What is the right space time???

I found these figures in some old NASA publicity books:

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 24 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes.

And these figures in Kenneth Gatland's "Space Technology":

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 43 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes 3 seconds

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes 57 seconds.

--Bill Thompson

William R Thompson gebruikte zijn klavier om te schrijven :
"André, PE1PQX" wrote:

If look at the wikipedia site on Wally Schirra, I see 2 different space
times: 295 hours and 15 minuts, and on the richt a time of 12 days, 7
hours and 12 minutes (295 hours and 12 minutes) a differance of 3
minutes...
What is the right space time???

I found these figures in some old NASA publicity books:

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 24 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes.

And these figures in Kenneth Gatland's "Space Technology":

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 43 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes 3 seconds

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes 57 seconds.

--Bill Thompson

Than have to check NASA history information, probably there the correct
info can be found...

André

"William R Thompson" wrote in message
news
"André, PE1PQX" wrote:

If look at the wikipedia site on Wally Schirra, I see 2 different space
times: 295 hours and 15 minuts, and on the richt a time of 12 days, 7
hours and 12 minutes (295 hours and 12 minutes) a differance of 3
minutes...
What is the right space time???

I found these figures in some old NASA publicity books:

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 24 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes.

And these figures in Kenneth Gatland's "Space Technology":

Sigma 7: 9 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds
Gemini 6: 25 hours 51 minutes 43 seconds
Apollo 7: 260 hours 9 minutes 3 seconds

which adds up to 295 hours 13 minutes 57 seconds.

--Bill Thompson


Is that taking relativistic time dilation into consideration? That's got to
be
good for a -second or -two!

Also, I remember getting up very early to watch live TV coverage of the
Mercury
launches. By the time Schirra took his ride I was just 12y old and we just
moved
back to Fla. I wish I could claim to have seen the launch from Lakeland but
I
really don't remember.
Tony P.