Wally Schirra
Naval aviator, test pilot, NASA astronaut
Born: March 12, 1923, in Hackensack, New Jersey
Died: May 3, 2007, in San Diego, California
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2010: Public Service

Buoyed by equal parts courage and wit, Wally Schirra became the only person to fly in all of the first three U.S. space programs—Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo—logging almost 300 hours in space.

Born Walter Marty Schirra Jr. in Hackensack, the future astronaut grew up in Oradell and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood. His father was an engineer and pilot who flew bombing and reconnaissance missions for the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I. After the war, he did stunt flying over county fairs with Schirra’s mother as a wing walker. According to The Los Angeles Times, she was pregnant with Wally during her last flight.

After high school graduation, Schirra enrolled at what is now the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps. With the outbreak of World War II, Schirra left NJIT and applied for entry into the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Graduating with a B.S. degree in 1945, he was commissioned an ensign but the war ended before he could see action.

Schirra next trained to be a Naval pilot and later learned to fly the new Navy jets in preparation for combat in Korea. He flew more than 90 combat missions in the Korean War and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for his service. After the war, he served as a Naval test pilot, and was notable for “successfully evading a Sidewinder missile that unexpectedly turned on him during an exercise,” The Los Angeles Times reported.

In April 1959, Schirra was one of the original seven American astronauts chosen for the Mercury program. In October 1962, he became the fifth American in space. During his flight, Schirra successfully demonstrated the ability of astronauts to manually control their spacecraft.

Schirra’s next trip into space came in December 1965 with the Gemini program. On that flight, Schirra and copilot Tom Stafford successfully maneuvered their Gemini 6A capsule to a rendezvous in space, coming within one foot of Gemini 7. During the mission, Schirra famously demonstrated his ever-present sense of fun when he performed “Jingle Bells” on his harmonica for all the world to see and hear.

In October 1968, Schirra made his third and final space voyage as commander of the three-man crew aboard Apollo 7. He retired from the Navy with the rank of captain following his Apollo flight and started a new career as a consultant to CBS News, co-anchoring with Walter Cronkite seven Apollo moon landing missions.

Schirra’s post-service career included numerous business ventures and board memberships. He also co-authored a book, “The Real Space Cowboys,” about the Mercury Seven astronauts, and contributed to the bestselling book “In the Shadow of the Moon.” Among his many honors, Schirra was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame and the National Aviation Hall of Fame. The Walter M. Schirra Elementary School in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, is named in his honor.