Former NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham, who piloted the Apollo 7 lunar module, the first manned flight of the US agency’s Apollo program, died early Tuesday in Houston, Texas, at the age of 90.
“On Apollo 7, the first crewed launch of the Apollo mission, Walter Cunningham and his companions made history and paved the way for the Artemis generation we see today,” NASA Director Bill Nelson said in a statement.
On October 11, 1968, Walter Cunningham piloted the 11-day Apollo 7 flight, the first crewed test run of the Apollo space project.
With Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Donn F. Eisele, tested the necessary maneuvers for docking in lunar orbit.
The crew successfully completed eight tests, according to NASA. The module crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on October 22, 1968.
At NASA, Walter Cunningham led the Skylab division of the Flight Crew Directorate and retired from the space agency in 1971, where he would continue to lead various technical and financial assignments.
Source: DN
