- Cunningham travelled into space on Apollo 7 in 1968 as part of the first crewed Apollo mission.
- The 11-day trip was undertaken in low-Earth orbit as the first human test flight of the new Apollo spacecraft.
- Cunningham served in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as a fighter pilot.
NASA said on Tuesday that former astronaut Walter Cunningham, who travelled into space on Apollo 7 in 1968 as part of the first crewed Apollo mission laying the way for 12 others to land on the moon in later years, passed away at the age of 90.
Cunningham joined crewmates Walter Schirra and Donn Eisele on the 11-day trip, which was undertaken in low-Earth orbit as the first human test flight of the new Apollo spacecraft that would eventually travel to the moon.
Apollo 7 represented the restart of NASA’s lunar exploration programme 21 months after the fire that killed all three crewmembers of Apollo 1 during a launch rehearsal on the ground in late January 1967.
According to NASA, Cunningham, who served in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as a fighter pilot for 54 missions before retiring with the rank of colonel, was selected as an astronaut in 1963 as part of the third astronaut class.
In a statement announcing his death, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked, “Walt Cunningham was a fighter pilot, physicist, and an entrepreneur – but, above all, he was an explorer.”
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