Apollo 7 astronaut Cunningham dies at age 90 -NASA

Record ID: 1705042

  • Title: Apollo 7 astronaut Cunningham dies at age 90 -NASA
  • Date: 3rd January 2023
  • Summary: LE BOURGET, FRANCE (JUNE 18, 2019) (REUTERS) (FROM SECOND LEFT) APOLLO 7 ASTRONAUT, WALTER CUNNINGHAM, WITH APOLLO 15 ASTRONAUT, AL WORDEN AND APOLLO 16 ASTRONAUT AND YOUNGEST PERSON TO WALK ON THE MOON, CHARLES DUKE AUDIENCE APPLAUDING AS FORMER ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE ON STAGE CUNNIGHAM, WORDEN AND DUKE SEATED ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) APOLLO 7 ASTRONAUT, WALTER CUNNIGHAM, SAYING: "Five hundred years from now, there's only going to be one thing that they remember about Apollo and it's that a man landed on the moon. That'll be it. And people will have no idea how hard it was, for example, to get the first Apollo mission off. Apollo 7 was the fifth mission that Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and I were on, and finally we flew."
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2023 23:52
  • Keywords: Apollo 7 NASA Walter Cunningham astronaut
  • Location: Various
  • City: Various
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA002023103012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Walter Cunningham, who flew into space as an astronaut aboard Apollo 7, died on Tuesday at age 90, NASA said.
    “Walt Cunningham was a fighter pilot, physicist, and an entrepreneur – but, above all, he was an explorer. On Apollo 7, the first launch of a crewed Apollo mission, Walt and his crewmates made history, paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “
    Cunningham was born March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa. He graduated from Venice High School, in Venice, California, before going on to receive a Bachelor of Arts with honors in physics in 1960 and a Master of Arts with distinction in physics in 1961 from the University of California at Los Angeles, NASA said. He then completed a doctorate in physics with exception of thesis at the Advanced Management Program in the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974, NASA said.
    Cunningham joined the Navy in 1951 and served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring with the rank of colonel, NASA said. He flew 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea. He worked as a scientist for the Rand Corporation for three years. While with Rand, he worked on classified defense studies and problems related to the Earth's magnetosphere. Cunningham has accumulated more than 4,500 hours of flying time in 40 different aircraft, including more than 3,400 in jet aircraft, NASA said.
    Cunningham was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as part of NASA's third astronaut class.
    (Production: Deboorah Lutterbeck)
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