Origins & Early Life

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. ( shə-RAH; March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo program. Before becoming an astronaut, Schirra graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1945, and served at sea during World War II. In 1948, he became a naval aviator, served as a fighter pilot and flew 90 combat missions in the Korean War, and then in 1958 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Schirra retired from...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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• André Le Nôtre — Shared historical date (03-12 · Born) (1613): Master French landscape architect, famed for the formal gardens of Versailles.
• Alfred Kastler — Shared historical date (05-03 · Born) (1902): Pioneering physicist known for developing the technique of optical pumping.
• Béla IV of Hungary — Shared historical date (05-03 · Died) (1270): King of Hungary and Croatia, known for rebuilding the state after Mongol devastation.
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