Ronnie Walter Cunningham (1932-2023)

[Orionid]

Ronnie Walter Cunningham został wybrany jako trzeci cywilny astronauta NASA.
Odbył jeden lot kosmiczny na pokładzie Apollo 7 ( 1-sza załogowa misja w programie).
Jako jedyny z załogi mógł świętować 50-lecie lotu.
28 września 2018 został wprowadzony do galerii National Aviation Hall of Fame.
https://spacecenter.org/astronaut-friday-walt-cunningham/

32 (31) człowiek w kosmosie.
Jego lot kosmiczny trwał 10d 20h 09m 03s.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/cunningham_walter.pdf

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/cunningham_walter.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/c/cunningham.html
https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/c/cunningham-r.php

https://mek.kosmo.cz/bio/usa/00031.htm
http://www.kozmo-data.sk/kozmonauti/cunningham-ronnie-walter.html
https://www.astronaut.ru/register/514.htm
https://www.april12.eu/usaastron/cunningham32en.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cunningham
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cunningham

https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/CunninghamRW/CunninghamRW_5-24-99.htm

Pojawiły się niepokojące informacje niemające jednak potwierdzenia w innych źródłach
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3483.msg180949;topicseen#msg180949

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/12/video-see-our-full-interview-with-apollo-7-astronaut-walt-cunningham/
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/nasa-apollo-unseen-photos/index.html
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/aug/26/walter-cunningham-the-last-astronaut-of-apollo-7-r/
https://metroairportnews.com/astronaut-walt-cunningham-made-660-on-apollo-7-mission/

Astronauta z żoną podczas relacji TV ze startu STS-8 (30 minuta nagrania).
SHUTTLE MISSION STS 8


Oral History: Walter Cunningham

https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/CunninghamRW/CunninghamRW_5-24-99.htm

Walt Cunningham | The Golden Age of Space Flight | NEAF Talks


U.S. Senate Space, Science and Competitiveness subcommittee hearing - Part 1 - Walter Cunningham


http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/cunningham_walter.htm
https://www.nasa.gov/subject/14861/walter-cunningham/
w Apollo 7 https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3338.msg123264#msg123264

[astropl]

Niestety wiadomość o śmierci astronauty znalazła potwierdzenie.

[Orionid]

W ciągu 9. miesięcy dziewięciu 

Walt always told it like he saw it.  A great American and a friend to so many of us who followed his path. We shall miss him. NASA Apollo astronaut Walt Cunningham has died : NPR

Kod: [Zaznacz]

https://twitter.com/FranklinChangD/status/1610382039856848898
Walt Cunningham, who test flew Apollo command module, dies at 90

January 3, 2023 — Former NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham, who flew on the first test of the Apollo command module in Earth orbit, has died at the age of 90.

Cunningham's death on Tuesday (Jan. 3) was confirmed by his family.

"We would like to express our immense pride in the life that he lived, and our deep gratitude for the man that he was — a patriot, an explorer, pilot, astronaut, husband, brother and father. The world has lost another true hero and we will miss him dearly," his family said in a statement released by NASA. (...)
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-010323a-apollo-7-astronaut-walt-cunningham-obituary.html

Walt Cunningham, Last Apollo 7 Crewman, Dies Aged 90
by Ben Evans January 4, 2023

Apollo 7 Astronaut Walter Cunningham - Full Length Interview (unedited)


The tragic result was that by the late spring of 1967, as NASA and its contractor teams began the laboriously difficult process of rebuilding shattered dreams and creating an Apollo spacecraft that could someday reach the Moon, Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham—in a manner none of them could ever have wanted or wished—were assigned to Apollo 7, the first crewed mission of the program, targeted for late the following year. Their assignment was announced before Congress on 9 May by NASA Administrator Jim Webb. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2023/01/04/remembering-the-outsider-the-life-and-legacy-of-walt-cunningham-1932-2023/

One of the early Apollo astronauts has died. Walt Cunningham died Tuesday after complications from a fall. He was 90.

https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/2023-01-03/nasa-apollo-astronaut-walt-cunningham-has-died-at-age-90

https://twitter.com/spacemen1969/status/1610395191566819339
https://twitter.com/spacemen1969/status/1610409345979670528

[Orionid]

Wspomnienie ze strony NASA

2023 sty 04 10:27 Kosmonauta.net
Odszedł astronauta Walter Cunningham
Uczestnik misji Apollo 7.
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1610400834566635520

Apollo Astronaut Walter Cunningham Dies at 90
Jan 3, 2023 RELEASE 23-001

Editor’s Note: This release was updated Jan. 4, 2023, to correct the Saturn stage reference.

Editor’s Note: This release was updated on Jan. 3, 2023, to clarify Cunningham’s official designation in the Apollo 7 mission.

Former astronaut Walter Cunningham, who flew into space on Apollo 7, the first flight with crew in NASA’s Apollo Program, died early Tuesday morning in Houston. He was 90 years old.

“Walt Cunningham was a fighter pilot, physicist, and an entrepreneur – but, above all, he was an explorer. On Apollo 7, the first launch of a crewed Apollo mission, Walt and his crewmates made history, paving the way for the Artemis Generation we see today,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA will always remember his contributions to our nation’s space program and sends our condolences to the Cunningham family.”

Cunningham was born March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa. He graduated from Venice High School, in Venice, California, before going on to receive a Bachelor of Arts with honors in physics in 1960 and a Master of Arts with distinction in physics in 1961 from the University of California at Los Angeles. He then completed a doctorate in physics with exception of thesis at the Advanced Management Program in the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974.

The Cunningham family offered the following statement: “We would like to express our immense pride in the life that he lived, and our deep gratitude for the man that he was – a patriot, an explorer, pilot, astronaut, husband, brother, and father. The world has lost another true hero, and we will miss him dearly.”

He joined the Navy in 1951 and served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring with the rank of colonel. He flew 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea. He worked as a scientist for the Rand Corporation for three years. While with Rand, he worked on classified defense studies and problems related to the Earth’s magnetosphere. Cunningham has accumulated more than 4,500 hours of flying time in 40 different aircraft, including more than 3,400 in jet aircraft.

Cunningham was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as part of NASA’s third astronaut class.

“On behalf of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we are beholden to Walt’s service to our nation and dedication to the advancement of human space exploration,” said Vanessa Wyche, center director. “Walt’s accomplished legacy will continue to serve as an inspiration to us all.”

Prior to his assignment to the Apollo 7 crew, Cunningham was on the prime crew for Apollo 2 until it was canceled and the backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 1.

Cunningham was designated the lunar module pilot for the 11-day flight of Apollo 7, which launched on Oct. 11, 1968, and was the first human flight test of the Apollo spacecraft. With Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Donn F. Eisele, he tested maneuvers necessary for docking and lunar orbit rendezvous using the second stage of their Saturn IB rocket. The crew successfully completed eight tests, igniting the service module engine, measuring the accuracy of performance of all spacecraft systems, and providing the first live television transmission of onboard crew activities. The 263-hour, 4.5-million-mile flight splashed down Oct. 22, 1968, in the Atlantic Ocean.

Cunningham’s last assignment at NASA Johnson was chief of the Skylab branch of the Flight Crew Directorate. In this capacity, he was responsible for the operational inputs for five major pieces of manned space hardware, two different launch vehicles and 56 major experiments that comprised the Skylab Program.

Cunningham retired from NASA in 1971 and would go on to lead multiple technical and financial organizations. He served in senior leadership roles with Century Development Corp., Hydrotech Development Company, and 3D International. Cunningham also was a longtime investor and entrepreneur, organizing small businesses and private investment firms. He also was a frequent keynote speaker and radio talk show host.

His numerous awards include the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and NASA Distinguished Service Medal. For his service he was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame, International Space Hall of Fame, Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame, San Diego Air and Space Museum Hall of Fame, and Houston Hall of Fame. Cunningham and the Apollo 7 crew also earned an Emmy in the form of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustee Award.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/apollo-astronaut-walter-cunningham-dies-at-90

Walter Cunningham, Who Helped Pave the Way to the Moon, Dies at 90
By Richard Goldstein Jan. 3, 2023

In 1968 he was a member of the first manned Apollo mission, which buoyed an America shocked by a fatal capsule fire the previous year.


A color photo of the astronaut Walter Cunningham, wearing a spacesuit, with short light-colored hair and glasses, in a profile view inside a space capsule.

Walter Cunningham aboard Apollo 7 in 1968. He was one of three crew members on the first manned Apollo mission, which completed 163 orbits of the Earth.Credit...NASA

Walter Cunningham, a civilian astronaut whose only mission in space, aboard Apollo 7, revived NASA’s quest to put men on the moon in the wake of a landing-pad fire that killed three astronauts, died on Tuesday in Houston. He was 90.

His death was announced by NASA.

Mr. Cunningham, a physicist and a former Marine pilot, joined with Capt. Walter M. Schirra Jr. of the Navy and Maj. Donn F. Eisele of the Air Force on a virtually flawless 11-day mission in October 1968. They completed 163 orbits of the Earth (four and a half million miles) in a reconstructed space capsule with many safety modifications and became the first NASA astronauts to appear on television from space.

The flight — the first manned Apollo mission — buoyed an America shocked by the capsule fire that took the lives of Virgil I. Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee and Edward H. White II as they rehearsed for an envisioned Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy, Fla., in January 1967.

“We carried the nation’s hope with us,” Mr. Cunningham wrote in his memoir, “The All-American Boys” (1977). “Twenty-one months before, a fire on the very pad from which we launched had killed three of our teammates. One more setback now, and the prospects of landing a man on the moon before 1970 would be gone forever.”

“The task wasn’t only technical,” he added. “We also had to address any psychological barriers that still remained.”

Mr. Cunningham, a lean figure with a brush cut, seemed to fit the astronaut archetype. But unlike many of the other early astronauts, he had never been a test pilot. His selection by NASA reflected the agency’s increasing interest in recruiting astronauts with scientific expertise.

He was the second civilian in space, after Neil Armstrong, who had flown in the Gemini program and later became the first man to walk on the moon.

Mr. Cunningham monitored the Apollo 7 flight systems, alongside Captain Schirra, the command pilot, and Major Eisele, the navigator.


The Apollo 7 crew, from left: Maj. Donn F. Eisele of the Air Force, Capt. Walter M. Schirra Jr. of the Navy and Mr. Cunningham.Credit...NASA

Apollo 7 — which blasted off on Oct. 11, 1968, following unmanned Apollo flights in the wake of the disastrous fire — passed its maneuverability and reliability tests. The capsule rendezvoused with an orbiting stage of the Saturn 1-B rocket that had sent it into space, indicating that it would have no trouble docking with a lunar module that would carry two astronauts from the capsule to the moon and back. The Apollo 7 astronauts, who comprised NASA’s first three-man crew, also successfully tested an engine in the rear of their capsule designed to put the spacecraft into and out of lunar orbit on a future mission.

And for the first time, astronauts carried a camera providing TV images. They demonstrated how they could float in their weightless environment in what became known as “The Wally, Walt and Donn Show,” and they put together a hand-lettered sign that said, “Hello From the Lovely Apollo Room, High Atop Everything.”

There was a problem, though: Captain Schirra had a heavy head cold, Major Eisele had a lesser cold and Mr. Cunningham, as he would later recall, felt “a little blah.” NASA feared that the colds could result in the bursting of eardrums as the astronauts returned to Earth.

They were, in fact, just fine when they splashed down some 325 miles south of Bermuda, less than a mile off target. Their mission was so successful that Apollo 8 orbited the moon, another important prelude to the moon landing in July 1969.

But Apollo 7 had its blemishes. It would be remembered for Captain Schirra’s disputes with NASA controllers in Houston. Speaking on an open microphone monitored by the press, he protested the agency’s ambitious schedule for TV transmissions, which he felt took valuable time away from the astronauts’ work. He also insisted that the astronauts dispense with the rule requiring pressurized helmets on re-entry, fearing that this could damage their eardrums in light of their colds. He got his way.

Captain Schirra, who flew in the Mercury and Gemini programs, had told NASA he planned to retire after Apollo 7. That mission proved to be not just the first but also the last for both Mr. Cunningham and Major Eisele.

“I never figured out why Schirra had such a burr under his saddle,” Gene Kranz, one of the flight directors for Apollo 7, wrote in his memoir, “Failure Is Not an Option” (2000). “Perhaps he just could not deal with the irritation of having something so piddling as a cold invade the trip of a lifetime. In any case, the careers of the two younger astronauts suffered. Neither Cunningham nor Eisele flew in space again.”


Workers at Cape Kennedy in Florida watched the launch of the Saturn 1-B rocket carrying the Apollo 7 astronauts on Oct. 11, 1968.Credit...NASA

Chris Kraft, the director of flight operations for the Apollo program, wrote in his memoir, “Flight: My Life in Mission Control” (2001), that Mr. Cunningham and Major Eisele had supported Captain Schirra on the helmet issue. Mr. Kraft said he regarded their collective stance as “insubordinate” and recalled telling Donald Slayton, who selected crews for the Apollo missions, that “this crew shouldn’t fly again.”

Mr. Kraft wrote that Mr. Cunningham later told him “he was in a tough position up there with a headstrong and angry commander,” and recalled holding out the possibility that Mr. Cunningham might indeed fly once more. But he never did.

The closest that Major Eisele came to going into space again was when he was part of the backup crew for Apollo 10, an orbiting of the moon involving a rendezvous with the lunar module.

In his memoir, Mr. Cunningham wrote that Captain Schirra had viewed each encounter with the ground controllers as “a challenge to his authority and judgment as captain of the ship,” and that “I did not feel justified in the behavior and abuse that was being heaped on the ground.”

He wrote that “the entire crew was tarred and feathered” by Captain Schirra’s behavior, although “we were collectively never hauled on the carpet.”

The Apollo 7 crewmen did have to settle for NASA’s second-highest award, the Exceptional Service Medal, while subsequent Apollo crews and the crews of the Skylab program were given the top award, the Distinguished Service Medal.


The Apollo 7 crew on the deck of the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever, from left: Mr. Cunningham, Major Eisele and Captain Schirra.Credit...NASA

NASA upgraded the Apollo 7 astronauts’ medals to the Distinguished Service citation at an October 2008 ceremony, citing the mission’s success, notwithstanding the arguments with flight controllers. But Mr. Cunningham was the only crewman alive by then. Major Eisele, who died in 1987, was represented by his widow, Susan Eisele-Black; Captain Schirra, who died in 2007, by the astronaut Bill Anders.

Mr. Kraft struck a conciliatory stance. “We gave you a hard time once, but you certainly survived that and have done extremely well since,” he told Mr. Cunningham in a recorded message. “You’ve done well by yourself, you’ve done well for NASA, and I am frankly very proud to call you a friend.”

Ronnie Walter Cunningham was born on March 16, 1932, in Creston, Iowa, the eldest of five children. His father, Walter, had a small construction business. When he was young, his family moved to Venice, Calif.

He entered the Navy in 1951 and flew Marine Corps jets. After leaving active service in 1956, he received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. While at the RAND Institute in October 1963, pursuing doctorate-level studies, he was named to NASA’s third group of astronauts.

Soon after Apollo 7, Mr. Cunningham was named director of what became known as the Skylab program, which developed America’s first space station. The astronaut Pete Conrad succeeded him in 1970. Mr. Cunningham resigned from NASA the next year after failing to get an assignment to fly in Skylab’s forthcoming missions.

Mr. Cunningham later became a senior executive at financial and real estate companies. In 2012, he joined with a group of former astronauts and NASA employees who sent a letter to the agency criticizing what they felt were its unproven assertions that man-made carbon dioxide was a major factor in global warming.


Mr. Cunningham and his wife, Dottie, at a dinner in New York in 2019 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the year astronauts first walked on the moon.Credit...Krista Schlueter for The New York Times

Mr. Cunningham’s survivors include his wife, Dorothy. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

Reflecting on his NASA experience, Mr. Cunningham said it gave him confidence to master whatever challenges lay ahead.

“I consider it a spectacle I took part in,” he told The Times in 1972, when he was managing a $1 billion real estate complex in Houston. “I came away thinking there wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”

“I am a physicist, and everything I encountered in the flight can be explained,” he said when asked whether he saw anything in space that had changed him. “It did not change my view of religion, life, earth. It had no revelations.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/science/space/walter-cunningham-dead.html

WP https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=5004.msg178134#msg178134

[mss]

Interesujący artykuł o śmierci Walta Cunninghama:

https://www.wfdd.org/story/nasa-apollo-astronaut-walt-cunningham-has-died-age-90

NASA Apollo astronaut Walt Cunningham has died at age 90
4:05pm January 03, 2023
by Russell Lewis

One of the early Apollo astronauts has died. Walt Cunningham died Tuesday after complications from a fall. He was 90.

Walt Cunningham flew in space just one time. His flight in 1968 was an important — and often forgotten one — for the lunar program.

Cunningham was the lunar module pilot of the first manned Apollo mission that went to space. Apollo 7's 11-day trip around the Earth was a key stepping stone to NASA's march to the moon.

"The real accomplishment, of course, was the first manned landing on the moon," Cunningham told NPR in 2016. "But that was the fifth of what I've always described as five giant steps. The first one was the Apollo 7 mission, of course. Complete test of the Apollo spacecraft."

The launch came after a difficult time for NASA. Just 21 months before, a fire on the launchpad killed three astronauts during a test of Apollo 1. In the interim, NASA changed many procedures and the command module underwent a series of safety improvements.

Cunningham said in 2016 that if Apollo 7 had not gone well, the U.S. wouldn't have landed on the moon before the end of the 1960s. "Historically, what the public doesn't realize," he said, "It is still the longest, most ambitious, most successful first test flight of any new flying machine ever."

"There were so many things that had to be tested," he recalled. During the flight, the crew test-fired the engine that would place Apollo into and out of lunar orbit, simulated docking maneuvers and did the first-ever live television broadcast from an American spacecraft.

"It was hard to imagine that we could get through all those things [in an 11-day mission] without something going wrong and saying, 'hey you need to gotta come home," Cunningham said.

The mission was deemed a success but it was the last time these astronauts would fly in space. There was tension between Apollo 7's commander, Wally Schirra, and mission control. As the flight dragged on, Schirra caught a cold and so did astronaut Donn Eisele and the crew's squabbles worsened with ground controllers. Despite that, Cunningham said, "As I look back on it, it was a job, a challenge, and a task that in the end was very well done."

Cunningham left NASA in 1971 after serving as a manager for Skylab, the U.S. space station. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel and attended Harvard Business School, dabbling in venture capital. He also hosted a radio talk show.

Cunningham was a physicist and later became known for his skeptical views of climate change, disagreeing with overwhelming scientific belief that humans are to blame for increasing global temperatures. He wrote, "There is a war going on between those who believe that human activities are responsible for global warming and those who don't."

[Orionid]

I’ve lost a good friend with Walt Cunningham passing. America and Apollo 11 wouldn’t have gotten to the moon without Walt’s courage and Apollo 7. Their mission made possible every other Apollo mission. He is the definition of an American hero, a man of enormous heart.

https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1610420025277423623
https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1612836635330351104
https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1610781007988269057

We mourn the passing of Astronaut Walt Cunningham on January 3, 2023. A special ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 9 inside Heroes & Legends featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame® to honor his life and legacy.

Kod: [Zaznacz]

https://twitter.com/ExploreSpaceKSC/status/1611045577361326092

What about it!? @FelixSchlang 1:39 AM · Jan 4, 2023
Walter Cunningham, Apollo 7 Astronaut, died at the age of 90 today. A terrible loss for the Space flight community.
I had the chance of talking to him in 2019. Here's a part of the interview I did with him back then. Inspiring words from a legend.
You'll be missed, Walt. ❤️

https://twitter.com/FelixSchlang/status/1610435756757057536

https://twitter.com/ExploreSpaceKSC/status/1611724540312264704

[Orionid]

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1618044106575613952
Celebration of Life for R. Walter Cunningham


Fellow astronauts remember Walt Cunningham as friend and mentor

January 24, 2023 — Judging just by the astronauts who came together to remember Walt Cunningham on Tuesday (Jan. 24), the late Apollo 7 pilot's reach extended far beyond his 1968 launch into space. (...)

"I first met Walt when I was in middle school," said Bernard Harris, who in 1995 became the first Black astronaut to perform a spacewalk on the second of his two space shuttle flights. "It wasn't until probably 20 or 30 years later that I actually got to know Walt."

"When I got out [of NASA] and decided I was going to go into venture capital, I [thought] I could be the first [astronaut] to [do so]. Well, it turns out I wasn't. Walt started his venture capital firm in 1982. He then became my mentor. So I owe him a lot."

Anna Fisher was one of the first six women to become a NASA astronaut and was the first mother to fly into space. Like Harris, she got to know Cunningham long after they had both left the program. (...)
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-012423a-walt-cunningham-remembered-astronauts.html

EDIT 17.03.23
https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1636457502085619712
https://twitter.com/airandspace/status/1636437729792671776

EDIT 03.01.24
https://twitter.com/ron_eisele/status/1742262608583852131

3 January 2023. Death of Ronnie Walter Cunningham (b. 16 March 16 1932) American fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission in 1968. NASA's third civilian astronaut.

16.03.2024
https://twitter.com/ron_eisele/status/1768743904164057584

16 March 1932. Birth of Ronnie Walter Cunningham, known as Walt Cunningham. Fighter pilot and American astronaut. In 1968, he was designated Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission, the first manned flight of the Apollo Command & Service Module.

[Orionid]

Remembering Walt Cunningham, BTD 1932. Selected in 1963 (Group 3), assigned to the [cancelled] Block I Apollo 2, reassigned as LMP (without an LM) Apollo 7 (1968 10+d 1st crewed Apollo in Earth orbit); (1969-1971) Chief Skylab astronaut branch until retiring; (2023) Died aged 90.

https://x.com/aisoffice/status/1901233164913123642