Thursday, May 03, 2007
Farewell Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra passed away today at the age of 84. Mr. Schirra was the only astronaut to have flow in Mecury, Gemini and Apollo missions. Oddly Wally Schirra might be best known for his Sudafed commercials in the 80s.
Wally along with Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham flew the Apollo 7 mission, the first American manned space flight after the Apollo 1 tragedy claimed the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
If there's any truth to the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" Schirra was constantly haunted by the tragedy of Apollo 1 and was determined to do everything in his power to see to it that it wouldn't happen again. In the episode about Apollo 7, Schirra is portrayed as a hard nosed commander constantly raising safety concerns and pushing back on NASA administration.
During the mission Schirra and his crewmates came down with colds (hence the sudafed tie in) and refused to where their helmets during re-entry operations. Schirra has stated had they worn their helmets in their congested state they would not be able to equalize sinus pressure and the pain would have been unbearable. It is believed this act of "insubordination" kept the three from flying on any further missions.
Godspeed Wally Schirra.........
#posted by Rob Roschewsk @ 7:12 PM