Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program, has died aged 90.
Cunningham joined crewmates Walter Schirra and Donn Eisele for the 11-day Apollo 7 mission in 1968, which was conducted in low-Earth orbit.
Their mission was the first human test flight of the new Apollo spacecraft, which would see a dozen astronauts land on the lunar surface from 1969 and 1972.
Cunningham was the flight’s lunar module pilot, even though Apollo 7 did not carry the moon landing craft, and he was responsible for all spacecraft systems except launch and navigation.
He was the last surviving member of the crew after mission commander Walter Schirra and command module pilot Donn Eisele died in 2007 and 1987 respectively.
Cunningham’s family said he died in hospital “from complications of a fall, after a full and complete life”.
Blasting off on 11 October 1968, Apollo 7 marked the resumption of NASA’s lunar spaceflight program 21 months after the fire that killed all three members of the Apollo 1 crew – Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee – during a ground-based launch rehearsal in late January 1967.
Prior to his assignment to Apollo 7, Cunningham had been the backup lunar module pilot for the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission, and was on the prime crew for Apollo 2 until it was cancelled.
From left: Donn Eisele, Walter Schirra, and Walter Cunningham speak to President Lyndon Johnson after the Apollo 7 spacecraft splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean
Apollo 7 provided the first live TV transmission of onboard crew activities, and was noted for testy exchanges between ground control and the astronauts, who developed head colds during the flight and openly voiced annoyance with mission directors at times.
Due in part to those tensions, none of…
