Wally Schirra, the only astronaut to fly each of the first three American spacecraft died on Wednesday in California. [Photo, right: the-rocketman.com]Shirra was the fifth American in space, piloting Sigma 7 , left, [Photo: NASA] on a six orbit flight that lasted nine hours.
He also served as command pilot on Gemini 6 and on Apollo 7, the first orbital flight of the spacecraft that eventually took men to the moon.Retiring from NASA and the United States Navy in 1969, Schirra had a successful career in business, finishing his life as a consultant.
Schirra launched a website, wallyshirra.com, in 2005.
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