One of our astronauts who had the Right Stuff is dead. Wally Schirra.
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From WaPo:
Walter M. Schirra Jr., 84, one of the original seven astronauts and the only man to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, died of a heart attack May 3 at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. He also had cancer.
The quick-witted Navy captain, who was known as Wally, was the fifth American in space at a time when NASA’s manned space program was young and untested. His Oct. 3, 1962, Mercury flight, which lasted 9 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds, was considered textbook-perfect. The capsule splashed down only 4.5 miles from the aircraft carrier Kearsarge in the Pacific Ocean. (more…)
