As the only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., had a unique window on the world. He marveled at the blue marble but fretted about the environment. And this was more than 40 years ago.
"I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth," Schirra told The Associated Press in an interview in April.
Schirra, who died Thursday at age 84, was among the last of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. Only John Glenn and Scott Carpenter remain. Schirra was perhaps one of the better known astronauts when he became a commentator for CBS News. He also teamed with anchorman Walter Cronkite on space coverage. Others came to know Schirra from Actifed commercials. He was the first person to take the cold medicine in space, to the delight of the pharmaceutical maker.
On the occasion of his passing, Schirra was described as an affable sort who kept those around him smiling. But as an astronaut and a pilot, he took a no-nonsense approach to his work. He openly criticized the 1983 motion picture "The Right Stuff" and took issue with space flight that did not advance scientific knowledge.
Schirra first flew solo at age 16, launching a long and distinguished career in the sky. During service in the Korean War, he was rated an outstanding pilot, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals for his service. Nearly a decade later, he was selected as a Project Mercury astronaut. He trained to fly space craft and helped develop and test the astronauts' life-support systems.
Schirra was a key player in the contentious Cold War space race with the then-Soviet Union. In those days, astronauts were national heroes, and the space program was seen as essential to both national pride and security. Space missions held the nation's rapt attention as people watched on television.
Schirra and astronaut Thomas P. Stafford manned the Gemini 6 mission. Its goal was to maneuver as close as possible to the orbiting Gemini 7. "It was done to perfection," Schirra was quoted in a Los Angeles Times report upon his death. "Until then, we came in second to the Soviets. But they had never done a rendezvous, and they didn't do that kind of rendezvous for another 10 years." Afterward, Schirra was awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal by President John F. Kennedy.
In 1968, Schirra served as commander on Apollo 7, the first flight after the Apollo 1 capsule fire that had killed three astronauts a year earlier. A year later, he received the Collier trophy, the nation's highest honor for achievement in aviation. Soon after, Schirra left NASA and the Navy, capping a history-making career during which he logged 295 hours 154 minutes in space as among the first Americans launched into space and just the third to orbit the Earth.
Together with his colleagues, he turned the early space race into a successful foundation for future exploration.