NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham, the last surviving member of the crew of the first successful manned space mission in the agency’s Apollo program, has died at the age of 90.
Cunningham, who flew on the Apollo 7 mission in 1968, died in Houston on Tuesday. He was born on 16 March 1932 in Creston, Iowa, and received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1960 and a master’s degree in physics from the same institution the following year. He completed a doctorate in physics at the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1974.
Before joining NASA’s astronaut corps in 1963, Cunningham served in the US Navy and Marine Corps, flying 54 missions as a night fighter pilot in Korea. He also worked as a scientist for the Rand Corporation, where he worked on classified defense studies and problems related to the Earth’s magnetosphere.
Credits: NASA
Cunningham was the lunar module pilot on the 11-day Apollo 7 mission, which was the first manned test flight of the Apollo spacecraft. He and his crewmates, Walter Schirra and Donn Eisele, tested maneuvers necessary for docking and lunar orbit rendezvous using the third stage of their Saturn IB launch vehicle. The flight, which lasted 263 hours and covered 4.5 million miles, ended with a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on 22 October 1968.
After retiring from NASA in 1971, Cunningham worked in senior leadership roles at Century Development Corp., Hydrotech Development Company, and 3D International. He was also an investor and entrepreneur, organizing small businesses and private investment firms. In addition, he was a frequent keynote speaker and radio talk show host.
Cunningham is survived by his wife, his sister Cathy Cunningham, and his children Brian and Kimberly.