More than two dozen former astronauts assembled Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to honor the Astronaut Hall of Fame's newest inductees also remembered Wally Schirra, one of the space program's legendary old-timers.
Schirra, who died Thursday at 84, was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the fifth American in space. Colleagues recalled his steely nerves and jokester's sensibility.
Saturday marked the Hall's induction of space shuttle astronauts Michael Coats, Steven Hawley and Jeffrey Hoffman. But Schirra was the main honoree.
"Wally was a great gamester, a wonderful person. ... He was a 'gotcha' guy," said former Apollo astronaut Al Worden. "Wally finally got the ultimate gotcha on us. He has a good excuse for not being here today."